Meteora: The Tale of Uzumaki Naruto
by Senju Kun
Summary: Campione - The Champions of Pandora. For centuries, they stood unoppossed. Humans idolized them; not out of respect but out of fear as no one could defy them. But now, you better watch out God Slayers, because the one to defy you is here. Elements from Naruto-verse, Campione and Sekirei. (Warning: Readers with no knowledge on Campione and Sekirei may get seriously confused.)
1. Prolouge: A Shooting Star

**Hello folks, this is something I decided to write down with the advice of one helping fellow, Tsunashi777. I hope you will enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: Except ideas, nothing is owned by me.**

**Chapter 1 – A Shooting Star**

**Tokyo, Japan**

**3 July, 2000**

A shooting star – What are they? A tiny piece of flaming brilliance streaking through the endless night sky that is plucked away from the countless sparkling extravaganzas of the starry heavens, which after travelling millions of miles falls into the mortal realm of humans.

From time immemorial, we have wondered – why do they fall? Why do they travel so much distance just to reach us? Why?

Even though humanity has progressed tremendously in last few centuries, they still seem so mysterious. While we can proudly show our many thesis on the topic but nothing remains concrete.

If we consider from religious point of view, then for some, it is a sign of a god's benevolence. A gift from their beloved deity, which banishes the darkness for briefest of time – igniting a profound sense of hope in the hearts of fallen warriors that even a small spark of light is capable of driving away the darkness. While at the same time, others will not be so optimistic about it – the theories ranging from satanic to incoming Armageddon.

But science states that a fallen star is –

***THWACK***

"Owww! What…"

***THWACK***

***THWACK***

"Hey! Listen…"

***THWACK***

***THWACK***

***THWACK***

"You. Worthless. Excuse. Of. Human." With each furiously uttered word in a feminine voice, the sound of something striking flesh was heard. "I am trying to contact you for past few hours and here I am finding that you are ignoring it all in the favor of scribbling whatever bullshit you have probably come up with." The angry voice continued.

In the dimly lit room with a computer screen as the only source of light, it was difficult to see the individual feature of the assaulter. But fortunately, it was not that hindering as one could still identify the dark figure of the assaulter as a slender woman holding a crumpled book in her hand. Heaving a bit, she straightened herself and looked at her victim, sprawled helplessly in front of her. Switching on the lights, she moved towards him and using her feet rolled the body to see the unconscious face of a handsome, bespectacled white haired man.

"Tch, he deserves it!" She tersely said without a single hint of remorse for her action in her beautiful oriental face framed by black hair with occasional greys in between. After straightening the white lab coat she adorned, she picked up the notebook from his table in her hand and sat down on the recently vacated chair. Going through its pages, she stopped on the last few entries and began to read them. While going through them, she shook her head exasperatedly and muttered, "For an idiot, I got to admit, he is a bloody genius."

She was broken out of her reverie, when she heard the sound of shuffling clothes below her. "Ah, Takami-chan…*Cough*… good to know that… *Cough*… you hold me in such high regards. I feel so…"

***THWACK***

The crumpled book once again found itself smacked flat on the man's face courtesy of one irate female. "Shut up you fool. Don't get a big head. You just didn't let me finish my sentence." The now identified Takami tersely said.

But to her ire, the man stood up as though he was never hit, with face suddenly sparkling and mysteriously devoid of any injury inflicted by the recent book assault, he theatrically got on his knees and sang in a flowery voice, "Oh, dear Takami-chan, such elegance, such beauty, such fire behind that beautiful pearl like eyes, and such siren like voice. I was right all along when I decided that you – only you would be the one to make me the father our children. I can already see the great future they will most certainly have. I can…"

But sadly for him, his pathetic excuse of wooing her was never completed as out of nowhere, the frying pan of doom was unleashed upon his face. "For god's sake, Minaka! Act like an adult for once." She shouted in frustration. Then opening the page with latest entry in his notebook, she thrust it into his hand and bitingly said, "Especially when the subject of your meteor fascination has just disappeared."

Seeing the look of absolute disbelief etched on his face, Takami could not decide whether she should feel happy that she had finally caught off the white haired bastard or feel frustrated that the subject of their utmost attention for past few days had just disappeared.

And the way he disappeared; it was just like a shooting star – a brilliant flash and nothing. And it will be a long time, before the world would again witness that brilliance.

**9 Years later**

**21 September, 2009**

"**All is one… I am the one… And all of this… belongs to me… So… give to me… Child of Prophecy, you have no hope of defeating me… RETURN WHAT IS MINE! …."**

Cerulean blue eyes snapped open violently as the teenage looking boy woke up gasping for breath. Taking huge gulps of air, he looked around wildly in the dinky small room. Finding nothing threatening, he began to take long deep breaths as he tried to calm down his wildly beating heart. Running his hands through the wild locks of golden blonde hair that was sticking everywhere; he looked at the beams of morning sunlight filtering through drapes covering the window.

"Damn nightmare, ruined the sleep again." The sleepy male voice of him intoned in irritation. Yawning widely, he got out of the old musty bed. The decades old wooden floor, adorned by holes of various sizes, courtesy of termites, creaked under his foot as he stood up on the rather new maroon carpet that was laid upon the floor to make it look more presentable.

Stretching his lean, wiry muscled body, he popped his bones back into their places as he went by the window to remove the coverings. When the heavy drapes were removed, his sensitive senses twitched in mild pain as the sudden increase in intensity of incident sunlight assaulted him. The sound of metal wheels screeching and rumbling against the steel track didn't help at all.

After monotonously gazing at the view of Railway Bridge just outside the window for a while, he moved away from there so that he can freshen up as well as complete the usual morning rituals.

Picking up the toothbrush, he applied some paste into it and began to brush his teeth. Looking up, he noticed that the mirror had become smudgy due to water drying on the surface. Clearing it with his wet hands, he was greeted by the image of a boy in his late teens with a face of fair complexion. If one looked close enough, they can even spot a faint discoloration of skin on his both cheeks, which bared a striking resemblance to feline whiskers.

'I need some good trimming for those,' he thought, frowning lightly at the golden blonde long bangs hanging above his forehead. Cleaning his mouth of its froth, he then put the toothbrush on its place and went to do other morning routines. When all was done, he returned to the main room and checked the clock. 'Still an hour left,' he thought.

Feeling too lazy to make a breakfast for himself, he decided, he will grab something in his workplace. Nodding at himself at the seemingly good idea, he began to get dressed in his workplace uniform. A light blue t-shirt, accompanied by faded khaki pants and black shoes – those were the uniform assigned by the place he worked. And along with that, a cap was also mandatory for him to wear. Above it and on front of his t-shirt were the slogan – Tsuki Ramen, Taste of Heavens –

"…in every strand of it." he recited with a practiced ease as he fixed the cap atop his head. Getting outside, he locked the door and picked up the cycle lying by an old stump of a sakura tree that was cut down few years ago. Getting on up it, he began to peddle towards the direction of main city in fairly mild speed. This way, it will clear up his mind as well as freshen it up, he thought.

After some time, when he reached his designated place with ample amount of time left to start for his shift, he was all geared up to start the new day. Leaving the bicycle in the parking lot, he moved towards the small restaurant, where he worked as a cashier-cum-server. Marching up to the reception desk, he sent a warm smile towards the pretty girl behind the desk and called out, "Ohayo, Misaki-san!"

Returning the smile, the petite Japanese girl bowed a little as she spoke, "Ohayo, Naruto-san." Then looking at her wrist watch, she grinned. "Quite early today. Something you want from boss, Naruto-san."

"Hahaha! It's nothing like that! Just woke up early this morning."

Arching her eyebrows playfully, Misaki jokingly said, "Well, just make sure, you don't do anything which makes other workers look bad." Then opening a drawer, she picked up a piece of paper and pushed it towards him. "Anyways, here, take your to-do-list for today. Meanwhile, I will register your name in the book."

Nodding his head, Naruto thanked her and picked the list. Giving a quick look at it, he left the counter while giving the customary 'Have a nice day' greeting to Misaki.

As it was clear to see, life was pretty simple for one Naruto Uzumaki. It may seem like a little bit Spartan to others, but for him, it was livable. He had a solid roof over him to cover him from the sun and the rain. A reasonable amount of steady income to provide for his extra wants. He lived the life a normal self-dependent person.

A simple life, neither extraordinary nor filled with any sort of extravaganzas of life as any other person will like to have.

But, was it really that simple?

***Scene Break***

In a place not far away from the main city, a long black haired girl wearing some kind of school girl uniform could be seen skipping past the ground while whistling some kind of tune. Above her, the red ball of fire hung low in the west side of the sky, signifying its imminent departure from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Few minutes later, when the sun finally went down, she abruptly stopped her whistling and looked up at the full moon hanging in the sky that was now shining luminously without the brilliance of sun to obstruct its beauty. She scrunched up her face as she tried to look for something.

All of a sudden, she became aware of an unnatural feeling coursing through her body. Every fiber of her body was telling her to lie down and accept her eventual fate, that she was just an ant in front of something supernatural to this mortal world, something divine. Whispers were echoing in her mind, they were saying, she was nothing more than a mere mortal in front of whoever she had the bad luck to encounter this night.

"Good thing that Ena is not a mere mortal then!" The still girl suddenly exclaimed as all of a sudden, she burst into a rapid dash. Realizing that it was not enough, her hands wrapped around the handle of the sheathed sword behind her back. She gasped in ecstasy, much to her secret embarrassment as she felt the divine powers coursing through her body. Her eyes glowed red with energy as the speed of her run sky-rocketed from highly trained Olympic level runners to superhuman levels.

Dashing in high speed on the hard asphalt of the street roads, she jumped on the rooftops for a more direct route. Her long, shiny black hair lashed against the winds as she continued to cut through the mild resistance of air. Her red eyes were intently focused as she effortlessly weaved past numerous gaps, obstacles and almost anything on the way in front of her, even though she was well aware of the futility of it.

"Why do you run?" The voice caressed her ears.

"Ena is not running!" She stated back.

"Is that so?" The voice seemed to mock her.

"Yes, Ena is not running!" She vehemently reiterated. Even in the face of inevitable, she was determined not to fall down easily.

"Then enlighten me, servant of the God of Storm." Ena once again heard the divine being speak, but this time, it was different than before. This time the voice sounded more natural, more lifelike.

Then, in a flurry of blowing winds, the figure of radiant man appeared in front of her. His regal appearance dressed in elegant oriental robe commanded a powerful aura around him. Bending down to lock his eyes with the stiffened girl in front him, he asked in a commanding voice, "Enlighten this Tsukiyomi, what you are doing, if it was not running away?"

Ena, surprised by the rather abrupt appearance of God of Moon in front of her, stood silent. As her red eyes gazed into those stormy grey eyes, she felt the strength leave her. Try as she might, she could not muster a single word to speak. Her face, previously set into determined focus, faltered, as she tried to utter the words that were bubbling just beneath the surface.

And at this moment, even the nature felt like it was reflecting her inner conflict. The blowing winds, that had followed her like bloodhounds, stayed still around her, as though, it too was waiting for her to say something.

And in the unnatural stillness of nature, the Hime-Miko of the Sword felt her body shivering against her will in the presence of divine being. 'Why?' She screamed inside the recess of her mind. The lamentation continued, 'Why is it so hard for Ena to speak proudly of her devotion to God of Storm?'

'Because, your mind is clouded by fear.' A deep yet warm soothing voice, whispered in her ears.

"Ame no Murakumo." Ena felt hope blossoming in her innocent heart as she joyously uttered the name of the sheathed sword in her back.

'Yes, my dear child. Now, allow me to take control of your body. I will handle him for now. Till then, sleep my child.'

Nodding in agreement, Ena was just about to recite the sacred words when the God of Moon decided to intervene.

Earlier this evening, the God of Moon, Tsukiyomi was just enjoying his new found freedom as a rouge god, when he had felt something, something that felt familiar to him. Getting curious, he had wandered around few places in search for it before he saw her. It was not her that he found interesting, it was the sword sheathed in her back that interested him deeply.

As soon as his gaze fell on it, he was able to recognize it as the legendary Ame no Murakumo – the sword, which in his opinion granted Susanoo, his brother a place once again in heaven.

A place close to his sister; the Sun Goddess Amaterasu.

Millennia ago, she had banished him from heaven and forbidden him from ever coming close to her again for some errors he had done in the past. But after all this time, his longing to see her again had reignited. And he was sure that after all this time, she too will see the error in her decision and accept him back. And this sword – it will be an ideal gift for her when he got back, he had thought.

At first, he had thought he will simply wrest the sword from the little mortal girl and go on his way. But, he got intrigued by the little girl who was carrying the divine sword of his brother. He briefly wondered why Susanoo would let a girl have the possession of his prized blade. But now the time for pondering was over, as time was running low, his patience too began to run thin. And looking at the girl in front in front of him, he knew what exactly she was trying to do.

"Please don't do that!" He said in a warning tone. Coming close to her, he extended his hand and gently caressed her face. "I have encountered the Grass Cutter enough to know what it can do. So beautiful maiden, I advise you to leave the sword and run away from here or else…" he left the words hanging.

Ena's eyes widened at hearing that. She knew what the god implied was truth, if she did not comply with his wishes, she was going to die. And Ame no Murakumo, it was strangely quite in her mind.

"Don't make me wait, little girl. Give me the sword already." The irritated voice of Tsukiyomi rang. His already thin patience was on the verge of breaking.

Ena knew she had to make a decision in haste. Closing her eyes, a picture of a pot-bellied middle aged man with sake in his hand flashed in front of her. 'This is for you grampsy,' she thought as she steeled herself and pushed away the offending hand from her face. Her intention was clear.

Standing proudly, she put one hand on her hips while the other continued to grab the handle of the sword. Looking at the God of Moon with fire blazing in her ruby eyes, she calmly stated, "Ena refuses!"

Hearing her statement, the God of Moon sneered at her. Then it all happened in a blink of an eye – a flash of steel shined in the darkness of night, the sound of ripping flesh followed and with a thud, the young body of Ena hit the floor, blood gushing out the large gash across her lower abdomen, from where she was nearly bisected in half.

She looked up to see the monotonous face of Tsukiyomi holding now unsheathed Ame no Murakumo in his hand. Its deep obsidian black blade was bathed in blood, her blood. "Insolent child, I tried to be merciful but because of your stubbornness look what happened. I had to commit the sin of sullying these hands with the blood of a virgin maiden." She heard him speak in disgust.

Feeling extremely light headed from rapid blood loss, lying there in the field of grass stained by her blood, Ena felt her vision darkening around her. Above her she could still hear Tsukiyomi continuing his monotone. She tried to snort but instead coughed violently with blood lodged in her throat as she heard some of the ridiculous claim he was making.

Closing her eyes in defeat she thought, 'Ena was fool in thinking she could fight a deity.' Her dying mind began to wander through the reel of her life; her entire life was flashing in front of her. Pearl like tears flowed out of her eyes as she asked for forgiveness, forgiveness for her unkempt promises.

'Sorry, Yuri-chan, Ena could not come to play with you as she promised. And grampsy, you must be disappointed in Ena. She could not bring the sake you told Ena about. Ena is sorry, grampsy, Ena tried.'

Here, in the dying moments of her short life, Ena desperately wanted to smile, but sadly, her face betrayed her. As her eye lids began to feel heavy, she saw a glowing star coming down from the heavens. Gazing at it, she tried to embrace it as she took the last breath of her life.

And just like this, Ena Seishuuin, the premier Hime-Miko of the sword, felt her life slip away.

***Scene Break***

Ruby red eyes slowly opened as the heaviness of it tried to pull it back into sleep. Blearily, the owner of those beautiful orbs looked at the slowly passing figures of wooden houses passing by her as she her lead like body tried to constrict itself closer with the comfortable heat emanating below her.

Noticing a ticklish feeling rubbing along her nose, she looked towards it to see golden locks of hair flowing lazily in the air. She also became aware of gentle rocking motion as whoever was carrying her moved forward in a slow gentle pace.

Normally, she would have tried to figure out the identity of the person carrying her. But right now, her hazy mind was commanding her body to do only one thing – get back to the blissful sleep provided by the comforting warmth. Not in the mood to go against it, she let her eyelid drop once again and fell into blissful sleep.

**A/N: And cut! So how is it? Please read and review.**

***As you must have probably figured it out by now, this is a crossover between Naruto, Campione and Sekirei.**

****In this story, Naruto is not a Campione. And he never will be. Naruto's power here is majorly based on the canon version of him, which in fact is already godly in power. He will have some other boosts too.**

*****Don't bother about pairings, it's already decided. **

******And Yeah! Naruto is very powerful but not in a Gary-stu way. **

**Till next time, Bye!**


	2. Hime-Miko of the Sword

**A/N – Hello everyone, please enjoy the second chapter of Meteora – The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki. And thank you for giving your time to read this.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto and Campione are owned by their respective owners.**

**Chapter 2 – Hime-Miko of the Sword **

"Hello… Yeah, it's me… Yeah, I am fine. Hey listen! I would really appreciate it, if you can change my shift to the evening one… Yeah...uh huh… yeah the 7 PM one will be good… No, it's nothing like that. Something just came up and I need to attend to it… Huh… Hahaha… no, no, no, like I said it's nothing like that. You already know I am single… it's just something personal, but not in that way…alright… hmm… Thanks man, I owe you for this. Alright…See you later, bye!"

*Beep* the electronic digital sound came to signify the ending of the call. Pushing some more tiny buttons, the notification panel of the mobile opened. The cursor moved down to the list of new messages and with another click of the OK button, all the unread messages was shown. Golden blonde brows furrowed as a familiar name was seen stacked above all other messages from various service centers and companies.

It read:-

Skipping off again, Naru-chan ;) Well now, you have some major explaining to do later, young man.

Your Sexy Boss

The left eyebrow on top of the bright cerulean blue eyes twitched as Naruto stared at the word 'Naru-chan' in front of winking smiley. 'Does she know that this can be considered as child sexual harassment.' he thought in annoyance. Looking down at the received time in the message, he found out that it had arrived while he was on the call, which meant his troublesome boss was probably just getting informed about his situation. Sighing lightly, he put the phone on the desk beside him and went to the kitchen.

It seems he had entered there just in time to turn off the gas stove as the soup pot he had put on there was blowing its sharp whistle to signify that the content had boiled enough. Getting the lid out of the way, he brought his face above the pot just for him to immediately pull away as the steamy heat threatened to burn his nose off. Scrunching his face in discomfort, he waved his hands above the steaming pot to blow away the heat and again brought his face, carefully this time, to take a whiff of the aroma the soup was liberating.

"Hmm," he hummed. "Smells good, and now… for the taste." He then dipped the spoon in the steaming liquid and brought it up to his mouth to blow on it a bit. Then sipping it, he smacked his tongue lightly for few times and nodded in approval of the taste.

With that done, he added some fresh green herbal leaves on it and after the entire flavor was mixed homogenously, he poured it into a soup bowl. Then putting it into a tray with a glass of fresh water alongside it, he walked towards his bedroom.

When he got there, a smile lit up on his boyish face when he saw the girl he had rescued last night. 'Looks like she woke up when I was on the phone.' Naruto mused when he saw her sitting upright on his bed. Her soft porcelain skin looked a little on pale side, probably due to blood loss she suffered last night, he pondered. And now, with the morning ray of sunshine falling on her, he got the proper opportunity to examine her features – something he was unable to do last night.

As for the girl in sailor uniform, feeling the intense gaze of a rather nice looking guy – probably of her age group, she guessed – upon her, she could not help but feel uncomfortable as she shyly moved her eyes away from him. Her shiny black hair, tousled by the sleep, tried bravely to cover her cheeks from showing its rosy hue from him, but unfortunately to her further embarrassment, she saw his sight fall upon them.

As for Naruto, always the dense guy he is – he thought something else entirely of her red face. Scooting beside her on the bed with a look of concern etched on his face, he first carefully placed the tray on the bedside table, and then began to check up on her temperature. His face scrunched into a small frown as he didn't get anything he was expecting.

"Strange." He said in bewilderment. The way her body resembled a girl who has just exited a steam bath, he thought she must be suffering from high body temperature.

"Umm…" he heard her mumble as she uncomfortably squirmed under his hand, her gaze anywhere but him. Looking at her, Naruto was confused at first but then his eyes widened as reality sinked in. In his haste, he had not realized that now, he was in a bed with a girl in her early teens in a rather close position; a rather intimate looking one to be clearer.

And blame it on his raging male hormones that he could not help himself when his eyes automatically moved down and locked themselves into her rather generous sized feminine assets. 'How can they be that big this early?' he wondered in amazement. To him, she didn't look like she was of that age where they usually bloom this much. And how did he miss it last night? He wondered in puzzlement.

"Ano…" again he heard her mumble softly. Beads of sweat emerged on his face as he felt the heat around his facial area rise rapidly. He then slowly raised his head up to see the deeply blushing face of the girl he had rescued last night. Suddenly, the hand which was on the girl's forehead a mere second before, was resting by his side in a motion too fast for a human eye to see.

'Shit!' He correctly described the situation in his mind. This must have probably rubbed wrong to her. Now, she is probably thinking he is some kind of pervert, he lamented.

'Say something, say something, say something good.' He struggled to articulate his words.

"Are you feeling alright?" he blurted out hurriedly the first thing that had immediately come to his mind. 'What the hell did I just say?' he deadpanned as he looked everywhere but the girl.

But fortunately for him, the girl seems to have forgiven his lapse in acceptable behavior as he noticed her demurely nodding her head. Then looking up at him, she parted the dark bangs that was falling on her face and bowed down from where she was sitting to speak in soft voice.

"Ena wants to say that she is very thankful to you for saving her life."

'Ena…?' Naruto thought in puzzlement. "Uh… she is?" He had no idea who that was.

"Yes!" the reply came firm.

"Alright, uh… so Ena is thankful for what I did?"

A vigorous nod in cue.

"So then… uh… who is Ena?" Naruto asked.

Now, it was the brunette's time to look puzzled. 'Shouldn't it be obvious?' She thought. "Ena is Ena." She said.

"Ena… is Ena?" Naruto sought to clarify from her.

"Yes, Ena is Ena." But the reply was still confusing.

"Alright then, so Ena is Ena." He again stated with a straight face. Again, a nod in cue.

"Well…if that's the case, then tell her…uh… she is…uh… welcome." Naruto said, scratching his head.

Ruby red eyes blinked blankly as she stared at the blonde boy in front of her. She was not stupid, it was clear for her to see that he didn't get it. 'He is confused by my way of speech.' She then realized.

Sighing softly, she tried to clarify, "See," here she pointed her finger to herself, "Ena," and then poking it to her chest, she continued, "Is Ena."

Seeing her do that, Naruto at first was a little confused but then his eyes widened suddenly and he face palmed, hard. He had now finally realized what the girl was trying to say.

"Alright, I get it, I get it. So, you are Ena, huh!" He said.

Ena, seeing that he had finally gotten it right, cheerfully nodded at that. "Yes, Ena is Ena."

Shoulders shaking with mirth, Naruto playfully said, "Well, now that the identity gaffe is over, I say you finish that soup before it gets cold." Nodding, Ena took the tray of now mildly hot soup – a perfect temperature to serve. While handing it to her, Naruto smiled and said, "Oh, and by the way, I am Naruto Uzumaki. Forget to tell you with … uh… what happened earlier."

Ena blinked as she took the tray from him. "Naruto Uzumaki." She said quietly, as though she was testing out his syllables on her tongue. 'So, that is the name of the new Devil-King.' She mused.

Then smiling brightly at him, she said, "It's a wonderful name Uzumaki-sama."

In return Naruto grinned widely as he took a seat beside her – this time, keeping a generous amount of space between them – and beamed, "Really, well, thank you for that, Ena." Then remembering something, he shook his finger in a negative motion and spoke in a reprimanding tone, "and no Uzumaki-sama. Just call me Naruto, OK."

Ena looked wide eyed him at that. "Should Ena really?" She asked him, genuinely surprised. At his positive nod, she further debated, "But everyone tells Ena that she should speak to the person of your status with respect."

"Pft, What status…? We all are equals, aren't we?"

Ena looked really conflicted at that. From the very beginning, from the time she could remember, everyone has always said to her that a Campione deserves respect like no other, and they should be always be treated like royalty they were. Any lack of proper behavior around them could result in disastrous consequences.

But now, a king was telling her to regard him as same as her. She did not want to disrespect him by addressing him in such an informal manner – something which was not acceptable in Committee, but going against his wish was also disrespecting him, she thought. Not clear on what to do, she decided to just follow his wish, after all if a king wishes it, who she to question him was.

Nodding lightly, she said, "Then Ena will address you as you say, Naruto-san."

Grinning, Naruto said, "Now, that's good. Well, it would have been better without the –san, but it's alright."

Mumbling out her agreement, Ena then began to slurp the soup from the spoon provided. "It's good." She complimented the taste. Naruto gave her a smile at that. "Thank you, Ena. I guess working at a food joint brush ups your cooking skill a bit."

A comfortable silence fell upon them as Naruto was content to sit there while Ena gulped down the spicy liquid with few chopping of chicken pieces mixed in it down to her empty stomach. Though, that silence was momentarily interrupted by the noise of trains blowing their horns and running on their tracks outside his living place, before it was peaceful again.

Naruto then abruptly stood up, as though he had just remebered something, and walked infront of the wooden cabinet in the left corner of the room. Ena watched with interest as he fiddled inside for whatever he was trying to find. Clothes, tinkers, papers, etc. began to fly out but Naruto could not find the particular object he was searching.

Finally emerging out of the mess of clothes, he pulled away the boxer lodged on his head and took a thinking pose. Looking around the room, he frowned, "Where the hell did I put that away last night?" he asked himself. Then directing his gaze towards Ena, he gave 'wait a second' gesture and went out of the room.

Meanwhile, chewing on the rather juicy piece of leg piece, Ena heard sounds of things falling and shifting coming from the room adjacent to the one she was sitting. Just when she had finished the soup and drank the refreshing water, the noises finally stopped and one proud looking Naruto reemerged from the door and sat once again beside her.

"Here, I found this lying beside you yesterday. I thought it is yours, so picked it up along the way." He said as he handed her a long wrapped familiar object.

"Ame no Murakumo…!" Ena exclaimed in delight as she took her divine partner. Hugging it close to her, she lovingly caressed its blade. She thought she had lost it when Lunar God Tsukiyomi took it from her last night. But it seems, besides saving her; Naruto had also saved her partner from being 'abducted'.

Overcome with emotions, she lunged forward from where she was sitting and embraced Naruto in a tight hug while tears of happiness streamed down her face. A bit surprised by this unexpected – in his opinion – behavior from her, Naruto was nearly thrown off from his seat. A soft smile lit up in his face as he heard her mumble 'Thank You' over and over in his shoulder.

Pulling herself away from him, Ena gave a watery smile to him. Her eyes glistening with unshed tears, she gushed over him, "Naruto-san is so kind. He is the best. First, he saved Ena and now this…, it means a lot to Ena." Her voice was about to crack at the end of her statement.

"Ah, don't fret over it too much, Ena." He said as he shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant way. "And besides, I didn't even know it belonged to you. I just sort of picked it up."

Ena wiped her face and shook her head. "Still Naruto-san, it was very kind of you to do that. Ena is very grateful for this." She said, bowing a little.

"Woah! Now, you are making me blush." Naruto playfully said. "And if you really are that grateful, treat me to a bowl of ramen and I will consider it even." He grinned brightly.

Speaking of ramen, he noticed the empty bowl lying beside her – reaching out for it, he grabbed them. "Well, looks like you finished them all. I guess time flies when you have someone to chipper with, eh!" He quipped jokingly at her.

"Yes, Ena agrees!" The brunette stated back with closed eyes; releasing a content breath as she gently lied back on the bed. Even though most of her body felt fine, her abdominal parts still felt a little too sore for comfort. Therefore, she was abstaining herself from making any movement knowingly, the previous 'thanking hug' being the exception.

Meanwhile, Naruto glanced at the clock to see that there was still a long time before noon. "Alright," he said, catching Ena's attention. "I think you should rest your body for a while now. And after that, before my shift starts in the evening, I will drop you at your place, OK."

Ena lightly nodded her head in agreement, and as soon as she did that, all of a sudden, her eyes began to feel unnaturally heavy. She thought of fighting it but then decided against it, the position in which she was, felt really comfortable to her. As the darkness began to claim her consciousness again, she noticed soft tuft like white feathers falling all around her. And then right before her breath peacefully evened out, she heard a distant voice say.

"Sweet Dreams."

***Scene Break***

"…Insolent brat, how dare you lay your filthy hands upon me. I, Tsuki… your life for this... Prepare… man." A regal looking man shouted. His voice sounded affronted by something, or someone he despised so much that you could actually feel the loath that was deeply laced in each spoken word.

*SKIP*

"What… it cannot be… brat, how did… that? ANSWER…" Now, he sounded surprised, puzzled at something that was probably unthinkable. But even then, the anger was not gone.

*SKIP*

"Tsukiyomi…" Another voice, a young voice compared to his – yet, powerful on its own was heard. Then…

***Click***

The sound of a button clicking reverberated around the silent room as the video running on the screen stopped. The zoomed in blue eyes on the paused screen were reflected off the shiny surface of the spectacle worn by a white haired man. Then some rapid clicking of buttons was heard as the intercom in front of the man came to life, signified by the low buzz coming from the machine.

"What is it, Minaka?" An irritated sounding female voice came from the intercom.

"Send Number 01 to my office." The now identified voice of Minaka was heard ordering.

"What…Number 01? What do you want from her?" The female voice sounded curious.

"Ah… nothing fancy. Just that, I think I have a way of controlling her." His voice sounded calm and cool.

But it seems the person over the other end of connection was not too thrilled at hearing that. "Control her… YOU FOOL! Do you want to die this soon? Well if you really want, come over here, I will personally grant it to you."

"Ouch…! That was harsh Takami-chan."

"Then why the heck will you try to control her? Don't you have the slightest idea in your peas sized brain that she will destroy this whole city if she even gets the wind of whatever crackpot theory you have come up with?"

"Don't worry about that." He stated, sounding sure of himself. "Just tell her, we have found her flavor of ramen." His voice sounded smug.

"Tch…idiot," he heard her say. He waited for her to say something, but instead, he heard the sound of long breath taken in then being released. To him, it was a familiar sound of an all too familiar habit of her.

"Hey, are you smoking again?" He voiced in concern. "Takami-chan, don't you know it is harmful for doing that in pregnancy…"

"Fuck you, Minaka. And fuck yourself up with your advice." The elegant words of Takami came.

"Eh…I just…"

"Shut your trap, you idiot. Don't waste your breath any more. I am sending her to you." Then the buzz went off to signify the disconnection of their line. But seconds later the intercom came to life again, "Just telling for your info, I will be very happy if she rams her sword up your ass." Then it died again, issuing a welcome silence.

"That woman and her mood swings!" Minaka muttered, letting out a tired breath, he stretched out on his chair. Sitting hunched up in one place for a long time was something not acceptable to his back. When few minutes passed by, he popped his fingers; cranked up from all the pushing of buttons he had lately done. "This could take a while…** *Shink* **… or not." He muttered as he watched the door of his office cleanly cut in half.

He brought his hands in front of his eyes as the sudden brightness from the outside stung his eyes a little. Looking at the dark figure of a long purple haired woman standing in front of him, he straightened on his seat. As the light was coming from behind her, he could not see her face properly. But despite that, he could still feel the overpowering bloodlust radiating from her. Not to mention the probably ultra-sharp blade of her that she was 'lovingly' resting on his neck.

"Ah, Number 1. Just the person I was waiting for." He said nonchalantly as though he did not even care about the blade that could decapitate him in a flash. "And a rather unique way of entering the room, I must say. I think I will probably…" he could not speak further as he felt the something trickling down his chest. His blood, he confirmed even without looking – courtesy of the legendary Totsuga-no-Tsurugi pressing harder upon his skin.

"How?"

For the first time, the woman spoke in a beautiful yet no-nonsense tone. Though a simple question it was, Minaka knew it also concealed a very thinly veiled threat. Any attempt of cheekiness and his life was forfeit. So, not ready to test his luck any further tonight, he gestured towards the screen.

Even in the darkness of the room, he was somehow able to see her eyes tilting towards the screen. The moment the deep chocolate brown alien eyes – which showed emotions incomprehensible to humanity – met the cerulean crystal blue eyes on the screen, the transformation was too immediate.

The eyes, which seconds ago, shined with barely held contempt for his species, were showing so much affection and care for the image of blonde on the screen, it was out Minaka's comprehension. It intrigued him – why a creature of her caliber, who would not even blink when she sinked thousands of man along with their ship, would show such emotions for the blonde.

He may act like an idiot but he was no fool; the idiotic suicidal behavior was just one of those eccentric quirks he acquired while practicing the eventually maddening path of scientist. But under that idiot facade was the super genius whose mind was considered unrivalled in the field of biological and technological science.

But in spite of all this, he could not understand – What was Naruto Uzumaki? What made him so special that even a peerless being as Number 1 would take an interest in him?

Minaka watched with fascination as the woman or whatever she was; pulled away the sword held in his neck and tentatively, almost lovingly reached out towards the satellite image of blonde as though she was hoping that she could touch him. Her bloodlust – which surrounded her like a dark veil all this time, was slowly receding inside her.

***Crack***

He watched as her eyes widened when the screen shattered under her finger the moment she touched it. It seems, one Takehito Asama had still a long way to go before he could properly adjust Number 1, Minaka thought humorously despite the situation being anything but it.

Again, he watched with unabated eyes as the bloodlust that was temporarily gone, again skyrocketed around her. He watched in silence as her waist length purple hair that framed her face like a halo of death waved in the unseen breeze while she continued to stare at the cracked screen.

"9 years ago, we tasked a certain someone to track down a very important subject that had run away from us." Minaka's voice cut through the silence in a way reminiscent of hot knife going through butter. He looked on to see if she would react in any way; seeing none, he continued, "After 3-4 years of relentless searching, we were reported that the search was fruitless," again, no visible reaction from her.

After few seconds of waiting for her to say anything, Minaka again spoke, "But as you have seen, it seems the report was wrong." His eyes snapped towards her as the sound of wood breaking rang around the room. 'Finally,' he thought triumphantly.

"When?" He heard her ask.

"Last night; near Tokyo Community Park." He said.

She seemed to think about something. Then as though coming to decision known only to her, she threw away the piece of broken table she was holding and began to march towards the door.

"Number 01!" Though, she could not go much far as it looked like Minaka still something to say to her. "Where are you going? Don't you want to hear the proposal I have for you?" He said with one side of his lips tugged upwards.

He looked on as she abruptly stopped her legs from walking further. Then turning slowly on the spot she was standing, the purple headed woman tilted her face and smiled beatifically. "Ara… A proposal you say?" Her eyes crinkled.

'Such a devil she is,' Minaka thought ruefully, unfazed by the sudden change in her personality. Any normal man would have surely been reduced to stuttering mess by now. Her beauty and innocent persona she was now portraying; it was so intoxicatingly alluring that said man would even willingly kiss the very place she walked – until his head separated from the rest of his body.

But good for him, he was not any person. He could see through her innocent Miko façade to see the lurking predator inside her, ready to tear apart any prey it stumbles upon. And last but not the least, he knew how to deal with her, or at least he would like to think so.

"Yes, a proposal." He confirmed. Then clearing his throat he clasped his hands, and said, "A proposal that will ensure mutual benefits, Miya."

For brief second of time, Minaka thought maybe saying her name was probably not a good decision on his part, if the look of disgust flashing in her eyes was anything to go by. But then, the nature of the proposal demanded trust on its foremost, so he will just have to ride on his luck again.

"So, are you interested?" He asked.

***Scene Break***

"…Oi, you sure this is the right place?" Naruto asked the pillion rider on his bicycle as he looked at the quiet looking neighborhood around him.

"Umm, the blue roof, an electric pole with nest, and a rusted gate with flower design… hmm…Yes, Ena is sure that this is the place." A healthy looking Ena said. Seeing him looking oddly at her, she sought to clarify, "What's wrong, Naruto-san?"

"So, this is the way you remember your house." Naruto poked fun at her.

A rosy hue flushed in her porcelain cheeks while Ena retorted back, "Well, it is not like Ena comes here regularly." Continuing the steaming off, she challengingly asked him, "And what is wrong with it anyway?"

The blonde teenager could not help but laugh at her expression. "Nothing in real," he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "And to be honest, it's kinda cute." He smiled and lightly patted on her head.

"Wh… what!" Ena stuttered in response. With face that vaguely resembled a certain shade of lobster, she hurriedly pushed away his hand. "Naruto-san, please don't speak like that." She chided him in embarrassment.

"And why shouldn't I Ena?" He asked mischievously as he looked back at her through his shoulder. Feeling his gaze upon her, Ena turned her face away from him shyly and muttered 'Baka' under her breath. But seeing him smiling softly at her when she took a peek through her periphery, she too felt the corner of her lips tug upwards, her ire, forgotten.

"So… I think I should head back now." Naruto said when he felt her getting out of the back seat.

"This soon!" Ena voiced her surprise while strapping her sword on her back. She had thought she will at least try to treat him with the same hospitality he had provided to her earlier when they reached her home. And she was also very excited to have him – the supposedly new 'Campione' – meet with her dear friend, Mariya Yuri.

"Yeah! I must return now." He said as he turned his bicycle to the direction they had come from. "My shift is going to start in an hour and if I don't go…well, don't tell anyone I told you this but you see, my boss is a sort of major pain in… uh… head, a headache I mean." He tried to explain while hurriedly correcting himself from nearly swearing in front of a girl.

Ena giggled lightly and nodding her head in understanding, said, "It's alright Naruto-san. And don't worry, Ena's lips are sealed and shut."

Naruto, glad that she was this accepting, smiled. "Thank you! And I gave you my number right?" He asked.

"Uh huh!" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Good, just give me a heads up when you feel like it, ok." Naruto said. When she again nodded her head affirmatively, he smiled at her.

"Alright then, see you later, Ena!" Ena heard him say as he cycled away. Absent-mindedly, she felt her legs move on its own as her body moved in the direction of her home.

Right now, at this moment, she wanted to say many things, but her tongue; it betrayed her as it would not even move as she commanded. As she looked back at him pedaling in the distance, her hands absent-mindedly traced the fresh scar line under shirt, which ran all around her belly; its circumference broken by mere inches on the right side of her waist.

To others, it may just be a mere scar in her flawless skin, but for her, it was something greater. For her, it was the sign of a second chance. A one in a million chance, granted to her by her savior. A new chance in a life it was – a chance, that from now, she had decided she will devote to her savior.

"Naruto-san, Ena will make sure that she will be worthy of being called your wife." Her head was high as she voiced out her determination.

**A/N: So how is it guys? Please read and review.**

***Now to clear some doubts.**

**1 – The timeline is set 2 year before canon sets off in Campione and 11 years ago before canon sets off in Sekirei. It is the reason, Ena is still a 13 year old girl and Miya is acting that way. It is stated in canon itself that Miya was completely different than how she is portrayed now. From what I can understand, she was somewhat similar to Number 04 – Karasuba, the Black Sekirei but more powerful.**

**2 – In Sekirei canon, Miya herself has stated that she is a sort of goddess amongst her people – hence the ridiculous power she possesses compared to other Sekirei. So don't expect her to get owned by gods.**

****If you have any more doubts, you can always PM me.**

**So until next chapter, Bye!**


	3. A Not So Mighty King

**A/N: Hello again readers. Enjoy the newest chapter of this story.**

***To people wondering about Naruto's age – He is about 15-16 physically.**

**Disclaimer: The original characters are not owned by me. **

**Chapter 3 – A Not So Mighty King**

I loved the gentle wind splashing against my face. I loved how the cold air of the night sky lovingly caressed my skin, and the way it moved through my wildly waving golden hairs. Also, the way it ruffled my robes, the way it made me fell alive as I made my way through its thinly veiled resistance – I loved it all.

Even though the biting cold stung my eyes, coaxing small drops of tears out of them, I did not mind it. Cold, that should be non-existent at this time of the year, was trying its brilliant best to stop me; whispering softly in my ears that I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be ignoring the weakest of fundamental forces in universe with this ease. It told me, I should just head down and walk amongst the normality that exists in the every corner of earth.

I snorted in amusement – I even laughed at it. I mean, who would want to leave the endless freedom and the wonderful serenity of the eternal space that is sky – Surely a fool.

Soaring through these fluffy cotton-like silver tinted clouds, I felt like squealing in delight as my blue eyes drank the aegis vista around me in a manner vaguely reminiscent to a greedy drunken man gulping down the cups of free sake. Everything was so wonderful, breathtaking even.

Simply put, I loved the sense of magnificent symphony that nature provided here.

And so, because of this magnificence; I could not help but feel a brief pang of sadness spear through my fake heart as I realized it could have been better. Much better in fact: If it wasn't for a sparkling idiot, who was hot on my heels for some petty reasons. Breaking through the lower levels of cloud lines, I took a sneak peek back to see whether the pompous bastard was still after me or not. Yup, still there, I thought in exasperation.

*Sigh*Looks like I will have to cut short this little game of cat and mouse, I thought. My decision made – in a motion that completely and utterly destroyed the carefully laid down laws of physics, I did a fierce 180 turn and soared head forth towards the incoming biggest pain in the ass that I have ever had the misfortune to meet.

Cruising towards him in dizzying speeds, and just when I was about to reach up to him, an intriguing thought went through my mind. How can you punch someone who is completely formed out of electricity? Shouldn't that be …uh… something like harmful for my wellbeing?

But then I shrugged in nonchalance – something which is a very hard thing to do when the air resistance is trying its best to scatter you apart, mind you – and continued forward. I mean, why should I care, right? I am just a clone after all. So, forwards I march …er… sorry, forward I flew!

*BOOM*

***Scene Break***

**This Morning**

It was your typical bright sunny and beautiful morning that had graced the city of Tokyo or Shinto Teito as it was called nowadays. It was still quite early for the working hours to start and the city was just awakening from the late slumber they had gone through. The native people, despite being known around the world for their punctuality and extreme work ethics were taking their leisure time of the morning, above these worn down bricked pavement of the relatively less glitzy part of this mega-monopoly.

"2 minutes Ramen everyone, Ramen that cooks in 2 minutes!" And in middle of all this still drowsy crowd of people, a small brown haired girl dressed in blue chibi sailor girl uniform with a navy blue cap sitting on her head was trying her best to sell the homemade Ramen cups she was lugging around.

"2 minutes Ramen everyone … guaranteed 2 minutes Ramen!" She again shouted out her advertisement as she marched around the corner of the new blocks.

"Oi, oi, will you pipe down a little, bed wetter. Unlike you, we are not so fortunate to be blessed by that sunshine attitude this early morning." A guy loitering around the corner of an alley spoke in an annoyed voice.

Moving her head sideways to look at the deadbeat looking guy, the girl narrowed her eyes. This was exactly the kind of people that she was always careful to avoid. Black fading mascara, tattoos, torn clothes, hippy accessories lauded around his necks and wrists, druggy looking smoky eyes and bleached hair to complete the set. Yup, definitely the archetypal low life attributes of the peoples her big brother had instructed to get clear from.

"I am just minding my own business," she flippantly said with an even tone. Then narrowing her eyes in a glare, "unlike you, idiot-san!" She finished, the bed wetter comment not sitting well with her.

And what she said, obviously didn't sit well with the punk too: point proven when the dried and blackened chapped lips violently twisted into a toothy snarl. "You…" He exclaimed, his nose flaring as he got close to her and picked her up from her collar.

Thrown off by the abrupt rough handling, the diminutive girl cringed when she saw his dirty yellow teeth underneath the parted lips. She cringed further in disgust when she felt his stale breath wafting all over her face, causing her to move her face away from him.

"Get away from me, you stinky bastard!" she tried to push him away from her, her tiny legs rocking aimlessly in attempt to kick him.

"Now see here brat, I was being helpful and advised you too keep your volume down. But you… you bed wetter! – instead of taking it like an obedient child, you decided to insult me." He accused her in his nasally voice.

The girl glared venomously at him, her chocolate brown eyes turning a few shade darker. "Go to hell bastard." She spat, not afraid in the least.

The punk at first was momentary caught off guard, stunned even, by her retort. He, seeing her juvenile age, had never expected such an attitude from her. And as for the small girl in question, she noticed the momentary lapse of him and took the provided opportunity by slipping deftly from his hold.

'I am done with this idiot!' She resolved furiously as she swiftly got behind him. Then she brought her hand forward and was about to…

"Is there a problem here?" Only to be interrupted by a strong male voice coming from behind them.

The punk guy from before, who had composed himself by now, turned his head to see a black limousine standing few meters away from them, its engine humming quietly. Though the vehicle was extra ordinary piece of technology, it was not it that had caught his interest. It was the man, standing on the pavement in front of them.

Disgruntled on having a spectator, he walked over to him with a cocky gait on his steps. Intending to give a piece of his mind to the interrupting man, he began to speak, "Now, see here you rich sonny. Who do you think yo… you… yo…" though, only to falter comically on his speech.

And just like that, the cocky punk attitude from seconds ago was abruptly gone as he could not muster the strength to even utter a single word. Little beads of sweats, which should not be seen at this relatively reasonable climate, were starting to pour from all over his face in a manner vaguely reminiscent of water being squeezed out from a sponge.

Lifting his shaky fingers at the slender figure of a young looking man in front of him, he rasped out, "What…a..are..you doing to m…me?"

The dark haired man, who was clothed in exquisitely fine and very expensive looking tuxedo and who looked like he was a man from the upper echelon of the society, directed his unconcerned cool gaze at him. Looking at his quivering figure like he was some kind of dirt that had to be swept away, he simply commanded, "Disappear!"

In a normal set of circumstances, the punk guy would have laughed off that 'suggestion', and he might have even picked a fight. But now, as much as he wanted do just that, he felt his body mysteriously turn by it-self and began to run away in the opposite direction as fast as his legs could move. And the pace in which his body was running away – he had to admit, he had never ran that fast in his entire life.

"Are you selling those?" The brown haired girl heard the man ask her. Moving her head up to see the face of the man who had just sort of saved her, she noticed that he towered easily over her small stature. Remembering his question, she nodded her head affirmatively.

"Do you want some?" She hopefully asked.

"No!" he quickly shot down her offer while looking around the place with narrowed eyes. It looked as though he was searching for something. Then shooting a last glance towards her, he turned on his heels and swiftly went inside his car, which immediately sped away.

"What a rude guy," she muttered with a frown as she stared at the back of the man. Letting out a long breath, she then gathered up her belongings and began to make her way towards a dumpster that was situated few blocks away. When she reached there, she lifted the boxes containing the cups and huffed in slight strain as she tried to push all the unsold eateries into the trash can.

"You know, I don't think Mrs. Hoshino would be pleased to see her noodles go down like that." She then heard a familiar voice coming from the alleyway just beside her.

"Maybe…" She shrugged, "But, why would I care."

She heard him chuckle lightly at hearing her. Dusting away her hands, she turned her head towards the shadowed figure of a boy leaning casually against the wall and said "I think that he is the guy you are looking for."

A brief silence ensued.

"Did he suspect anything?" His voice came serious with a touch of lingering intrigue.

"I think so." She said in an unsure manner.

"Hmm… anyway," she watched as a face adorning black half mask that was covering his face from eyes down slide into her vision as the boy with a golden blonde hair crouched down in front of her. Here, even though his mouth was covered, she could still discern the smile inside it, "good job, Uzume-chan!" She felt a warm hand rest upon her head through her cap, which then affectionately patted her.

"Really? … Just a good job?" The unimpressed chocolate brown eyes of now named Uzume locked with his crinkling cerulean blue eyes. Folding her diminutive hands in front of her chest, she admonished him, "A mere good job is not going to cut it, Naruto-nii. It will cost you more than that." She said with a tone of finality and fixed upon him the 'do-not-challenge-me' stare.

Naruto though, had no intention of doing so but even then, he could not stop himself from chuckling at the rather cute 'stern' face she was trying to make. Smiling, he asked, "Alright then Miss costly, what do you want this time?"

"That, I will tell you later at home." Uzume said pompously, while smirking down at him with a look of mischief shining in her eyes.

"Hai, hai, Uzume-sama!" Naruto intoned, sneakily flicking her cute button like nose.

"Oww… why did you do that?" the newly named Uzume tearily asked him as she rubbed her abused facial organ.

"Do what?" he grinned, feigning innocence.

"That nose thing you always do to me." She retorted in kind.

"Lies, imouto-chan, I never do something like that." He evaded in a singsong voice. Then wiggling his eyebrows, "I think you are just unleashing your imagination again," he said and again flicked her nose.

"Arghh… baka nii-san … I am done here!" Uzume huffed in displeasure. Turning her back to him, she stomped away to leave. But after moving few steps forward, she turned back and heatedly shouted, "You know what dear Nii-san; I will tell aunty that you have hidden porn magazines in your secret compartment of the drawer." With that said, she blew raspberry at him and triumphantly walked off.

Slack jawed; Naruto could only mumble in disbelief, "How in the devil's name does she know about them."

***Scene Break***

It had been two weeks from when Naruto had saved Ena on that fateful night. Though they had talked a lot in between these two weeks, they have not met again yet. The work kept Naruto busy, and Ena's Miko duties as well as her meeting with her childhood friend Yuri kept her busy. So lately, phone was the only way for them to talk to each other.

On the topic of phone, it seems, after that day, she had immediately bought a mobile phone for herself and learnt to operate it too. At first, the fact that a girl of her age in this era could not even use a phone was mildly amusing to him. Though, she had later explained to him that since she was training to hone her Miko abilities from the day she learnt to walk, her grasp on modern technologies were a bit shaky.

And now, since she had mastered the sophisticated art of using a smartphone, she was abusing the hell out of it. And this month, Naruto was willing to bet his life that her phone bill would contain lots of digits.

Why?

Because nowadays, aside from his work time, Naruto always had his phone's Bluetooth earpiece shoved in his ear. Sometimes, he mused it would have been better if he would just stick it there with a tape or glue, if not for the fact that that piece of modern tech required regular charging after certain amount of use.

In fact, Naruto had chattered so much over his phone in these last two weeks that he was quite sure it was almost equal to the length of all the talk time he had held over it before she began to call him. And also, now because of all this extensive talk sessions, he can proudly say that he knew more about her than anyone who knows her, her friend Yuri exempted – this glorious fact confirmed by Ena herself.

Though, in his opinion, she should not have taken the effort to part with him some information like what color of underwear she wears in a particular day, her body measurements, and the age from when she started wearing training brassieres etc. It generated… uh… vivid images in his mind, not at all helped by the still fresh memory of her quite fetching body shape.

It was not that her extreme frankness was unwelcomed by him. With all the hormones raging their ways inside of him all the time, they were more than warmly welcomed. But even then, he felt that as a 'responsible' guy and all, some amount of decency must be achieved and maintained. After all, it was the first thing that was taught to him by his first friend.

Hence, thinking about all this, he had tried to amend it by notifying her about it. But to his consternation, the reply he got from her was anything but appropriate. In fact, it was downright incredulous.

"Naruto-san, you are more than welcome to ravish Ena's body in any manner that seems suitable to you."

Ah… those mind scarring seductive words spoken with such devotion. They were exactly the strings of carefully selected words, which will make any decent boy with red hot blood pumping through his veins, jump in euphoria and sing about the wonderfulness of this beautiful world.

But ironically though, and sadly for Ena, Naruto was somewhat immune to this kind of blunt, straightforward 'offers'. Courtesy of one Mrs. Hoshino, full name – Akahana Hoshino, the self-proclaimed Sexiest Married Woman of Japan or as Naruto likes to call, 'The Child Molester' because of her countless attempt to 'steal' his innocence.

While she claimed it was all an act to let her mind trail away from the rather boring life she was living, Naruto had a sneaky suspicion that it was not. If it was not for the fact that she had always supported him on the time of needs – like giving him a job on her food joint and letting Uzume, his sister in all but blood stay with her daughter Misaki – he would have long ago considered the possibility of secretly moving out of this town.

So anyway, filing away Ena's blood pumping comment aside, Naruto had decided to concentrate on something more thought inducing, something, which he had at first dismissed as nothing. And that was, the Campione.

The Campione, or the Devil Kings, were essentially a God Slayer. Also known as the Rakshasa Raja, they were considered the rightful ruler of this world. Usurper of the God's Might, challenging their authority was known to be akin to embracing death. And since, they have the power to slay a deity; they loom over the entire mortals.

In short, it was the greatest bullshit Naruto had ever seen or heard about.

Few days ago, spurred on by constantly being addressed with the aforementioned title by Ena, Naruto had thrown himself onto a little self-assigned side quest to find out whatever details he can on these supposed God Slayers. And after pushing just the right set of buttons on right sort of places, he was able to sketch a rough conclusion on it.

And the conclusion – It was far from likeable.

In his eyes, the weird system of gaining power from essentially stealing and then, being renowned for that act of thievery was not so great to brag about. To him, this all felt similar to when a relatively weak and very much mortal video game character, bounded by the fragile chains of mortality is abruptly and ridiculously powered up by some kind of hack or in-game cheat code i.e. God Mode. And while doing so, they completely and brutally ignore the painstaking hard work other must have undertaken in order to stand at that level – Hence, cruelly rendering their effort meaningless.

It wasn't that Naruto did not recognize the fact that a real, living and breathing mortal man of flesh and bloods with same bodily restrictions as all the others human out there had somehow, in the presence of generous stroke of luck had done something clearly unthinkable and incomprehensible i.e. pulled off something completely non sensible that blurred the fine line laid down between madness and greatness. And also, the determination, the willpower, the bravery, the valor, and the courage, the soon-to-be- Campione must have displayed to remain strong on the face of something he had no hope of standing against and then, to slay the very being that not even the strongest of lion hearts will dare to face was truly awe-inspiring to Naruto.

But everything that followed after – well, to bluntly put it; it was the foremost and greatest example of a licking someone's behind, in hope of getting some favor, which in turn flames the already super-sized ego of the Campione, which, Naruto had found out that each and every one of the six currently existing Campiones had in spades.

"So, Ena must have assumed I am a Campione because I slayed a god." Naruto mused out loud, his voice muffled by the black mask covering his face, the wind sweeping his blondes hair gently while he balanced himself upon a telephone tower – A perfect vantage point for someone like him to survey down upon the area from the Bird's Eye point of view.

"Hmm… I think, this is gonna be interesting, don't you think Black Prince?" His mumbled as his eyes narrowed into slits as they zoomed into a black limousine that seemingly glided over the black tarmac of the suburban countryside. Immediately, his mind worked in lightning speed to provide him with whatever information it had stored about the entire layout of the city, which in turn, helped him in recognizing the road as the one that leads over to the only ancient Shinto god shrine of this district.

Stretching up, he was about to jump off the tower after few moments when he suddenly caught a very brief flash of light in the distance from his periphery. Realizing it came from the direction of the limousine, he snapped his head in its direction to see the most important passenger of that car looking directly at him with his frigid black eyes.

'Interesting indeed…' Smiling behind his mask, Naruto cheekily waved his hands, fully aware that the glaring man could see it and then, blurred away.

***Scene Break***

In a quite dark room, where the sound of soft inhaling and exhaling was reverberating around the room, there was a sudden blast of noise as the phone placed upon the side dresser began to loudly churn out the notes for the Owl City – Hot Air Balloon. It continued to do so, until its owner picked it up and pushed the accept button.

"…" The owner's customary hello was overcome by the sudden desire to take a yawn.

"…Cheerio, Naruto-kun," an exuberant female voice came from the earpiece.

Recognizing the familiar voice, Naruto exhaled in dismay. "What is it, Mrs. Hoshino?" He dryly asked.

"Ohoho… is that how you greet your boss, dear Naru-chan. And didn't I tell you not to call me…"

*Beep* Disconnecting the call, Naruto rubbed his temple while staring at the phone in irritation. Soon though, his phone again began to blare loudly to notify him of an incoming call. Looking at the caller ID on the screen, every fiber of his body shouted out for him to boycott it, saying it was not worth the trouble. And he was about to go with his sub-consciousness and happily do just that, but then, the rational part of his mind suggested that she will continue to irk him if did that.

'Tch, damn you stupid woman…' he ranted hotly as he once again pushed the accept button with more force than necessary.

"Mrs. Hoshino, please look at the hour hand of your clock and tell me, at which number it is lying upon now?" He immediately spoke into it through his teeth.

"…uh…"

"What?" Naruto voiced out impatiently.

"I don't have any analog clock on me."

Naruto's shoulder began to shake with tension all over his body as his phone creaked beneath his hand. "THEN WATCH THE DAMN DIGITAL ONE, YOU DUMB!" He shouted furiously at the phone.

"Jeez… hold your horses, will you? I am just pulling your legs." The voice of Mrs. Hoshino coolly came.

"AND YOU THOUGHT 1 AM WAS THE BEST TIME FOR IT?"

"Of course not, now stop shouting to a woman like douche and listen to me." Her voice came chaste.

"NO, YOU LISTEN TO ME, YOU SENSELESS WOMAN! FIRST, YOU CALL AT THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT, SECOND…"

"Uzume has disappeared…"

"…YOU GO AROUND AND …wait what? ... WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY UZUME HAS DISAPPEARED?" He again shouted out loud, but this time it was because of him being worried for his sworn sister.

"…and it looks like she was kidnapped." Mrs. Hoshino flatly finished.

"Well, shit…"

That was all she heard from him before she was greeted by the low static buzz humming at her ear. After that, when no voice came for a while, she looked confusedly at her phone. "Oi Naruto… Are you there?"

Still no reply came.

'Did that bugger just hang up on me?' She thought in consternation.

Though, her ire was not able to last long because all of a sudden, her body went rigid in alert when she heard some scrapping sound coming from the other side of the door. And as usual of the human nature, her brain sensing the sudden rise of apprehension began to conjure up all kind of worst case scenario that began to scare her.

Beads of sweat began to pour down her face while she put her phone aside as softly as she could. Glad that her survival instincts were now firing off in all available cylinders, she quietly grabbed the baseball bat by the bedside. Then careful to not make a single noise she tentatively and silently tip-toed towards the door.

Now came the hard part.

Looking at the door handle, she felt her heart thunder against her ribcage as her anxiety level began to dramatically rise inside her as she frantically debated the age old topic of whether to open the door or not. Tightening her somewhat slippery hold on the bat, she gulped and …

"Are you just going to stand there the whole night?" When she heard Naruto's voice coming from the other side, she nearly cried out in relief. Quickly opening the door, she took the sight of frowning Naruto standing there with his hands folded and covered in some sort of dark colored robes.

"My god, you nearly gave me a heart attack there, baka. For a while, I thought you were probably the kidnapper." She tried to chide him breathily, wiping away the sweat that had begun to cover her forehead. Then swinging the bat in front of her, she said, "Good thing that you spoke up first though, otherwise you were this close on getting a solid mean cracking from this bat."

Sending an incredulous look in her direction while controlling down the urge to face palm as he looked at the scantily clad, black haired, brown eyed woman, he said, "And good for you that I am not a kidnapper, you senseless woman!" Then snatching the bat from her hand, he rotated it from point to point and pushed it back into her hands, "at least learn to hold the bat in right way." With that said, he entered the room that until recently was occupied by his sister and began to look around.

Behind him, blinking owlishly, Mrs. Hoshino eyed the bat in her hands, and much to her embarrassment, realized that, it was indeed as the sun kissed blonde had just said, she had been holding it upside down before he had 'corrected' her hold. To save face, she awkwardly laughed and blew him off. "Well, who said I am hitting you with the… errr…hitting end of the bad. It would have been obvious of course. See, I was trying to caught the kidnapper off guard and jab him with the pointy end." She looked rather proud at the end.

Glancing back at her with an 'are-you-kidding-me' expression on his face, Naruto shook his head and went back to carefully looking at the every little things of the room. His extraordinarily sharp eyes, not allowing even a single small detail to escape from his eyes; while his other senses also worked in overdrive in tandem. After few moments, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the open window to the left side of the room by the study table. Going near it, he looked outside for some while and then his curiosity seemingly sated, closed it.

"So…" Mrs. Hoshino intoned in enquiry.

Plopping down on the chair near him, Naruto exhaled and said, "Someone did come here, alright," jabbing his thumb behind him, "and entered from that window."

"But who will kidnap her…" the only female of the room thought out loud worriedly.

"No, she wasn't kidnapped." Naruto tried to quell her worries, but in doing that, further confused her.

"Then…"

"She willingly went, happily even." Seeing that she was not getting it, Naruto explained further. "I cannot sense any negative emotions lingering here, only positive and happy ones."

"Oh…" the woman gave an understanding look, "so… there is nothing to worry about then …right?" Mrs. Hoshino tried to confirm.

"You could say that," Naruto nodded. Then abruptly getting up, he sternly said, "But still, it was not nice of her to make us worry like that. Therefore, I believe a nice chat with her concerned older brother is in order now." At the end, he looked very displeased by the latest stunt his sister had pulled off.

"Ah, don't be harsh on her, will you? After all, she is just a little girl."

Nodding lightly, Naruto said, "I will try. Anyway, thanks for the heads up, Mrs. Hoshino."

"Bah, no need for that. I too was concerned, that's all." The brown woman waved him off.

Smiling softly, Naruto sent a parting good night at her and left her house.

***Scene Break***

In the darkness of night, lit up by the silvery sheen of full moon in the sky, Naruto tensed his legs muscles as he saw the edge of the roof he was currently running, coming to an end. Then suddenly releasing the pent up tension in one go, he sprang up in the air to land on the distant roof about 4-5 blocks away. Dashing in the trail of ever disappearing Uzume's emotion print lingering in the air, he sped up more, leaving a giant cloud of dust in his wake.

And as he inched ever closer to his sworn sister than the second before, in his apprehension – he failed to realize that he was not the only one out here, who was in search of someone. Just like his sister had left a trail for him to follow, he was also leaving a trail for someone else to follow.

And while there was no doubt that Naruto was running very fast, resembling nothing more than a blur at this moment, yet, this someone was ultra-fast, who was renowned throughout the world as fastest in his category. Hence, catching up to Naruto was not really a huge task for him.

Though by now, Naruto too had realized his folly and gotten aware of this someone following him. Fumbling around his neck, he brought his black mask up to cover his face and began to speed up even more, not in the mood of any sort of distraction at this moment. Making his way through the various obstacles with spectacular and acrobatic application of parkour, unlike the person behind him, who was just bulldozing his way through them, Naruto swerved sharply to his right and jumped off the building.

Cruising through the air for a while in breakneck speed, he cushioned his fall by landing on a bush growing in the building garden. From there, he jumped out and quickly dashed off in the direction of the nearby sea shore. When he was about to reach the shore, he took a glance behind him and saw exactly who was following him for this whole time.

Naruto's eyes briefly widened as he realized that his pursuer was none other than the man whom he himself was following this morning, the Campione of Britain, Black Prince Alec. And now, it seemed like he is returning the favor, Naruto thought in amusement. Abruptly stopping his run with the help of sand beneath his feet, waited for the first Campione he was ever going to meet.

And just when he got there, Naruto nonchalantly voiced out, "So, what is a person like you doing in the middle of night? I don't think it's just casual strolling."

Stopping a little distance away from him, the Campione who was more popularly known as the Black Prince, stared hard at him. "You are a difficult person to find." He casually observed.

Shrugging, Naruto said, "Yeah, I have been told that many times already."

Tilting his head, the raven haired man looked at him with narrowed eyes, which to Naruto, felt like the Black Prince was trying to pin him under his gaze – just like a tyrannical king makes his subjects submit themselves before him.

But here, the king had to deal with failure though, much to his ire.

"Tell me boy, what is the artifact you use. You are not a God, nor are you a Campione, so you must be a trained magus carrying some sort of divine artifact or relic blessed by some deity." Walking closer to him, he looked at Naruto down through his nose and continued from where he left, "I don't know and I don't care why you were following me in the morning. But that artifact, I would like to have it, boy. Give it to me and I will forgive you for trying to spy on me." He stated with an absolute voice.

Raising his eyebrows at the Black Prince's assumption, Naruto playfully clicked his tongue. "Well, that is just plain rude, mister! Just strolling here and demanding other people things like that." Naruto shook his head as though he was disappointed by him. "You see, I don't know about Britain, but here, it doesn't work in that way. Here, if you want something, you have to give something in return." He smirked a little underneath his mask as he saw the Black Prince's eyes flashing at hearing that.

'It looks like the guy isn't used to being refused.' He thought. 'Or maybe it is common amongst them.' He thought further, aware of Campione's holier than thou attitude.

"I think you failed to understand boy. I am a Campione and as a Campione, everything is mine by right. So, now that you are enlightened, hand over the artifact that is mine." The Black Prince once again demanded with his hand stretched out in front of him this time.

"Oi, oi, you could have at least been a little polite when you asked for it. Now, forget about it." Naruto chided and turned to leave, only to back away in instant when a flash of lightning struck the ground in front of him, nearly singing him too. 'Ah, here goes the classic bully act,' Naruto thought.

"It seems you don't respect your life, boy. Now, I will…"

"Alright, alright… I am giving it, ok," Naruto abruptly and surprisingly said in a defeated tone, "No need to take my precious life for that." Then reaching inside his robe, he pulled out a scroll hanging from a ash grey thread around his neck and handed it over to the raven haired man with his head low. "Here, take this."

The Black Prince, wary about the blonde's sudden change of heart, swiped it away from his hand. Then looking at the old looking scroll, he rolled it in his hand as though weighing it. Then he nodded his head and hummed in approval. The scroll felt genuine to him. He was positive that he recognized some sort of divine aura wrapped around it. 'Susanoo perhaps or maybe it's Raijuu.' He mused thoughtfully. Getting impatient to know about the god who could grant such authorities, he rolled open the scroll and began to read the writings in it.

"How to be a Kickass Person" He read the title out loud with his brows furrowed. 'What kind of title is this?' He thought in puzzlement as he raised his gaze up from the scroll and looked at the boy who was staring back at him with an impassive face. 'Did it really grant him those powers?' he again wondered. Shrugging, he began to read the rest of the writings, believing there must be something hidden in these cryptic letters.

"First, take a rare piece of paper used in ritual scrolls and write I am the most powerful person in the world. Then, write everything you believe about yourself, your opinions, and your views of the world and about all the things that belongs to you." Nodding, he opened the scroll further. 'This seems like it is some kind of magic enhancing ritual.' He thought.

"Now that you have done so, take one last look at then rolling it put it upon a white ritual cloth in front of a ritual altar in the presence of seven virgin girls." Anticipation coursing through him, Black Prince eagerly rolled the scroll more.

"After all this is done, strip yourself of all worldly possession and lying back peacefully on the white cloth, take the rolled scroll and carefully place it into your anus for divine nirvana. Do try to push further for maximum effect." Stunned by absolute disbelief at what he had just read, Black Prince Alec again looked down to read the statement as though wanting to confirm that; yes, he had just read what he had read. Then below it were the gold writings 'Kiss my ass!' and adjacent to it, a cartoonish smiley blowing raspberry was drawn.

Crushing the scroll in his hand, the Black Prince began to convulse in anger as he looked at the snickering blonde. Never in his entire existence as a Campione, had someone, which included the various heretic gods he had faced, dared to make a mockery of him on this level. Even the White Princess was careful to not hurt his ego when she admonished him. But this boy, a nameless plebian with no powers, had done something utterly unforgivable, a most heinous crime that should not go unpunished.

And he had already decided the suitable punishment – The price for making a mockery of him will be a life.

Naruto stopped laughing as a sudden burst of violent electricity jolted him out of his humor high. Wiping away the tears of laughter from his face, Naruto looked at the Campione of Britain to see that the guy was literally frothing from the mouth that signified his royally pissed off state. 'Ah, it looks like I hit the nerve there.' Naruto again snickered in amusement.

"You dare make a… huh…what… what is the meaning of this?" The Black Prince had tried to move forward in attempt to crush the fiend with his bare hands, but in his haste, he was caught unaware by the sudden wave of sand snaking all around him, effectively stopping him from moving even and inch further. "LET ME OUT OF HERE, YOU FIEND!" He screamed in fury, while trying to force his way out of this rain of sands falling all around him.

Casually ignoring his shouting, Naruto smirked and got closer to the confined struggling Campione. Then putting his one hand on his waist, he leaned forwards and waved his pointing finger mockingly at him. "Ooooh, is momma's weetle boy is angly that he didn't get his toy," he said, imitating a baby voice.

Chuckling lightly, Naruto straightened up and shrugging lightly, said, "You know, this is the first time meeting a Campione. So, while I have read that Campiones generally act like a glorified douchebag in front of others, I think getting the firsthand experience was more enlightening. And suffice to say, your manners leaves something very much to be desired."

"You let me out of this and I will teach you how to show manners." The captive Prince spat.

"Ah, threats, threats and threats, nothing but threats." Naruto said in a singsong voice. Then a look of curiosity entered his eyes as he looked dead in the eyes of the red-faced, raven haired man, and asked, "Tell me, Black Prince, why you tried to take something from me, when you have already got so much," then casting a coy glance, "Or is it just that big boy Campione is little insecure with what he has already got hanging in there."

Inside the hard prison of sand, the humiliated Black Prince bristling hotly at the obvious jab could only bare his teeth; the sand constricting his face in vice like grip was making it difficult for him to open his mouth properly. But that didn't stop him from rasping out through his teeth. "Remember, you little fiend, the moment I am out of this, your life is forfeit."

"Bah, suck it up big boy." Naruto waved him off in non-concern. Then stretching his hands in a long yawn, he smacked his tongue. "Anyway, it's kinda late now, don't you think?" He asked in a complacent manner while rubbing his eyes.

Not expecting any civil answer from the confined prince though, he continued, "So I guess we should cut it short and head back home now." Then looking at the scowling face of the Black Prince, he moved closer and extending his hand, he gently patted the head, "So no hard feelings, alright man. It was all just for… yeowch!" only to yelp as he was shocked by a bolt of electricity.

"Alright, alright, I am leaving. No need to get all stingy." Naruto huffed. "Anyway, see you never!"

From the Black Prince, a hateful glare that threatened to bore hole through him was all the greeting he got in response. Not a bit fazed by it though, Naruto turned away and began to walk off in the opposite direction. After moving a sufficient distance, he looked back and then mock saluting the raven haired man, who was still glaring at him, he crouched a little on his knees and shot off towards the night sky.

And as Naruto went away, his influence on the sand waned away too, enabling the Black Prince to finally shred through his temporary prison of sand. And immediately after that, he too shot off towards the sky by activating his authority and began to once again chase the blonde while screaming bloody murder all the way.

**Sometimes Later**

*BOOM*

The giant blast glowing in the sky was reflected off the cerulean blue eyes, as the original Naruto looked up at the sky while standing beside the bush he had just crawled out from. Then, as he felt the all too familiar rush of his clone memories integrating into his mind, he now gave into the urge to face palm and wondered out loud in an exasperated voice, "Sometimes, I feel the clones get too much colorful personality than it is necessary."

**A/N: So, how was it? Read &amp; review guys.**


	4. A Bird That Once Flew Away

**A/n: Hello there! I hope you guys will enjoy reading this chapter. And thank you in advance for giving your time to read my work.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything legal.**

**Chapter 4 – A Bird That Once Flew Away**

**Memoirs of Past-I **

**6 Years Ago**

**Unknown Location**

The shallow murky water dallyingly bypassed his cupped little hands without any visible opposition as he patiently waited for his target to fall in his trap: the trap being his aforementioned cupped hands. His face; scrunched in concentrated focus in his valiant effort to ignore the slow but annoying increasing urge to scratch the mildly itching part behind his ears.

Maybe, it would have been a lot easy for him, if the droplets of water – that had gotten away from the rest of its liquidy kin after it had struck against the large stone– had discontinued its continued pitter patter against his head, when it fell from the relatively small waterfall. But since it didn't happen, so after a short while…

"GAH!" a young Naruto who looked about 9-10 years of age cried out in frustration while he furiously scratched the itchy spot, just to see his prey from past several minutes sneakily and swiftly, dart through between his legs. *twitch* *twitch* He felt his eyebrows squiggle to show his indignation while his fist shook beside him.

"Hee hee…!" his keen ears heard a giggle. Sighing, he turned his head sideways and looked at the purple headed young woman leisurely sitting atop a stone with her hand covering her mouth. Rolling his eyes at her, he muttered, "Not you too, Miya" and let his body fell backwards in the water. Here, in the odd symphony of coldness of water and warmness of sun from above, he began to think about his life.

It felt like it was only yesterday when he had woken up in the middle of that weird looking place made up of some kind of extra-terrestrial like plants with no recollection of how and when he got there. Try as he might, he could not remember anything relevant thing or information that could help him. Because of this, he was somewhat paranoid, apprehensive and fearful even about what might have happened to him. To say in brief, he had not liked the experience of being an amnesic.

But fortunately for him, not everything was lost. Despite the fact his mind felt incredibly sluggish and muddy at that time, he could still clearly remember – how he didn't know – that his name was Naruto Uzumaki. And that was a good start he believed. After all, something is better than nothing, isn't it?

"I think the fish will dive into your mouth if you stay like that, Naruto-kun." He was broken out of his floating reverie when he heard Miya say between her giggles.

"Doesn't matter…" He sighed again. "Atleast I will get hold of that slippery devil."

But then, contemplating on the fact he was not really in the mood for something like that to happen; he lazily lifted his body from the water and flopped down on the bank. Wiping the water away from his face, he looked back at her and asked, "So how many is there?"

Miya, knowing what he was asking, took a glance at the small tin bucket with few fishes haphazardly swimming inside it and said, "Around 5-6, I guess…"

"Really…!" Naruto exclaimed, his widened eyes portraying his surprise. To be honest, he had thought it might be around 2 or 3.

"Well anyway, you prepare those while make a quick detour of the forest, ok." He said, while thumbing towards his back. Seeing her nod affirmatively, he got up and went to gather some dry woods for fire whilst the purplette got set on doing what he had just said.

It had been about 3 years since when Naruto had met the purple headed woman. He had first met her when he was still coming short in grasping the gritty concepts of this alienistic world. In those times, when he was still a whole lot confused by the almost everything that surrounded him, she had come – at first like a sliver of ghost but later, as a whole person – and gradually but firmly phased into his life; while at the same time lending him a much needed helping hand.

Therefore, needless to say, Miya was the only one with whom Naruto had no qualm for displaying his true powers and abilities, which he generally hid from the public. It was not that he was qualmish on revealing his powers in the public. It was just that as Miya had repeatedly and accurately pointed out in the past; while his powers were magnificently astounding, they also had this eye-popping tendency of crossing the line of safety one too many times.

Example being: That time, when he had breathed out a large ball of white hot fire that nearly incinerated half of the forest a year ago; and it was accidental. It happened because of Naruto getting emotionally excited which in here was something along the lines of him getting very frustrated with not being able to hit Miya in a friendly spar.

So that's why, it was decided that until he gained more control over his powers, he will have to continue calling this forest as his home, rendering his ventures into to the populated area to almost zero.

"Alright, Miya said no powers." Naruto muttered as he peered around to find the driest of wood; which was – much to his ire – easier said than done. Since, the climate was generally wet on these days of the season; a rare piece of dry wood was some sort of a Holy Grail right now. Thus, after some wasted minutes of futile searching, he couldn't help but be sorely tempted to just use one of his scouting techniques and be done with it.

But then, that was exactly something Miya had advised him to refrain himself from doing. In her words, he must not rely too much on his extra attributes that much. Since, this was meant to be a normal everyday task; it required him to do everything like an every average Joe out there. While it seemed easy to him at first, he was quickly enlightened that doing things in normal ways was not very likeable.

So after some while, when Naruto had finally gathered enough dry twigs and branches, he retraced his step back to the clearing by the river bank. There he found that Miya had already finished her task of preparing the fish and the only thing that was left was cooking them. So, when Naruto proudly gave her the materials he had painstakingly gathered, she did just that and after a short while, when it was thoroughly cooked, she took them out and with the joint murmur of 'Itadakimasu' – they began to tuck in.

"Man, I think you fill the food with some kind of magic, Miya-chan! Anything you cook becomes otherworldly in taste. Surely, you must be a Goddess of Foods." Naruto said in satisfied voice while patting his now content tummy.

Miya beamed at his praise. "Arigatou, Naruto-kun! I am glad that you like it."

Grinning back at her, Naruto quickly finished his share and then getting over her side, he got close to her and said, "Say Miya-chan, we are best buddies right?" His voice was brimming full with excitement.

Miya not knowing what the blonde hair kid was getting on with decided to go with the flow and lightly nodded. "Yes, Naruto-kun, we are."

"And you and I have known each other for a long, long time, right?"

Miya once again nodded slowly.

Then with brilliant smile lighting on his face, Naruto grabbed her shoulder and animatedly exclaimed, "Then wouldn't it be so awesome, if you were to become my cook?"

Miya blinked owlishly at the rather odd request of him. Well, whatever she had expected, this was surely not even close to it. Glancing at the expectant look on his face, she decided to end his anticipation. So smiling coyly, she playfully said, "But I thought I was already your cook, Naruto-kun."

Nodding quickly, Naruto immediately replied, "Yeah, you are. But what I am saying is that you become my cook for lifetime." He tried to clarify.

Looking at his wide cerulean blue expectant eyes shining with hope as he requested her to essentially be his maid, Miya could not help but shake in mirth. Pulling him in a gentle hug, she wistfully thought, 'Naruto-kun, this is the thing because of which I have to keep you away from the prying hands of others. Please try to hold onto that sweet innocence of yours as much as you can.'

Unaware of her inner monologue, young Naruto confusedly looked at the suddenly touchy-feely purplette beauty and asked, "So, is that a… yes?"

Miya, pulling him away from the hug she had initiated, smiled radiantly and nodded. "Yes, Naruto-kun. You can count me in."

Naruto; acting just like a child who had just got his hands on his favorite toy, pumped his hand upwards and shouted, "Oh yeah! Now I have got my own cook. Hahaha!"

Meanwhile, giving into his contagious laughter, Miya too began to laugh heartily as she sat there with the person she had come to cherish so much in these past 3 years. If the any other person who knew her except Naruto saw her this way, they would have been hard-pressed to believe that she is in fact, Miya. Because the Miya they knew, was utterly bloodthirsty and scary as hell.

But since they weren't here, and Miya could be herself as much as she wants; she was enjoying the time of her life. After all, who would have thought that despite being radically different then rest of her brethren – which in turn translates into her being not unwingable – she will be the first one to find her destined one. Perhaps, a humorous irony to her assigned number, she bemusedly thought.

'You are small now, Naruto-kun. For now, I will patiently wait for the day when you will be finally ready. So till then, let me be your defender, a guardian angel against the machination of men like Minaka. I may have already failed once in protecting my fellow little bird, but this time, I cannot let that happen again. So here I promise that no matter whom; I will destroy everyone who comes in your way. And this – is my Sekirei pledge to you, my little Ashikabi.'

***Scene Break***

**Back in the Present**

In a place that was normally hidden from the prying eyes of general population deep inside the forest, which in turn was south to the capital of the country; the figure of one Naruto Uzumaki was seen standing with his face twisted into expression of bewilderment and confusion.

"How in the earth did she got here?" His confounded voice came as he stared at the large sakura tree in front of him.

You see, the sakura tree mentioned – was not exactly of any special nature. And in no particular circumstances, it possessed any sort of supernatural attributes inside its old yet sturdy bark. It was very similar to the trees around itself: well, maybe it was just a little bit bigger with thicker trunk and wider branch span covering more area. But other than that, if you ignore the big yet intricately drawn pattern on the ground in front of it; then it was just your average pink leafed Sakura tree that was swaying harmlessly in the wind.

But Naruto being who he is – was acutely aware of what that intricate looking pattern was and what significance it held. A sense of nostalgia coursed through him as he once again peered at the pattern that was made to look like a whirlpool with a kanji for 'Birth' in the center. Then tearing his gaze away from it, he peered around him as he tried his best to pinpoint the signature of his sister.

Around half an hour ago, after letting the clone deal with the unwanted obstruction in the form of Black Prince, it had not taken long time for him to arrive in this place after actively following the trail left by his sister. At first, he was little bummed out by the slipped chance of properly meeting a Campione, but after reviewing the memories of his clones, he was glad that he was not the one who went to confront him. Mighty he maybe, but he now knew that he was just as the books described a God Slayer to be; egoistic, conceited and tyrannical even. So at this moment, meeting with a Devil King for friendly handshake was on the bottom of the list.

Anyway, back to the place he was standing: he remembered it being the place where he had opened his eyes for the first time in this world. His memories of the time before that maybe muddled, but after being a poor victim of merciless onslaught of rather large number of dreams or nightmares to be precise, for all these in-between years; he had some kind inkling that he was not exactly native to this place or world to precise, in general.

And the only other non-native person – apart from Uzume – who he knew would know about this place was…

"Miya!" he shouted blindly in the hope of catching a sign of her. Although he knew that the chances seemed really slim, but he was also damn sure that it really must be her. After all, beside him she was the only other living soul that could have entered this place.

Few seconds passed, but no reply came. "I know it is you, Miya! Don't play games with me." He again urged, a bit forcefully than before for her to show herself.

Then all he heard was the quiet shuffling of leaves and all of a sudden his vision was filled with more purple than he had ever seen in years. Surprised and stiffened, he felt her deepening her enthusiastic hug in what seemed like it was her intention to melt into him. At the same time, his widened eyes also noticed his missing sister peacefully sleeping in her back while being supported by a makeshift sling.

"Wha…?" Befuddled by her sudden appearance, he nonsensically tried to speak. While he had anticipated with utmost fervor for her to appear, he still was not able to stop his brain from going blank when she had made herself visible.

"Hush, Naruto-kun. I will explain everything. But for now, let me savor this wonderful moment." He heard her familiar yet muffled voice that he had almost failed to recognize, speak in a longing tone.

'Did she just purr?' His mind supplied him with an intriguing yet perverse question. Embarrassed, he silently nodded in reply, not wanting to take the risk of shoving his shoe in his mouth by saying something illogical.

But when the hug extended for little more time than he expected, he could not help but think that although he had got numerous hugs from her before; something felt different about this hug. Like in how she seemed smaller than before: smaller as in how she seemed more petite statured in comparison to his taller than average stature. It may have easily slipped by his otherwise keen notice if it wasn't for the fact that last time he remembered hugging, his head was barely reaching her shoulder blades, and now, it seemed the situation was reversed.

"You have grown strong." He heard her speak.

A bit caught off guard, Naruto hesitated on what to say. Now that the surprise of her sudden appearance again in his life had vaporized, his thinking became more grounded to reality. At this moment, he knew he could have just simply replied naturally, but then, the truth was that he did not know what to say to a person who had suddenly vanished from his life for years. To him, it felt like she had just ignored the many years passed in-between and the many events that transpired.

And despite the fact that they were physically touching as much as they could while maintaining the proper modicum of decency; Naruto could not help but feel the sense of awkward disconnection between them. While he was certain that he could sense the unbridled joy coursing through his once best friend, he was for the lack of words, just blank.

The joy, the happiness, and everything that was between them, it felt like it was just gone; ravaged by the paradoxical dichotomy of time, because while he was very sure that he was happy on seeing her, yet at the same time he could not ignore the fact that something wasn't just ticking right between them.

Loosening her hold slightly in understanding, Miya dejectedly looked up at him with her warm brown eyes tinged with regret and with a bitter sweet smile playing on her lush red lips, she said, "I messed up big, didn't I?" Her words sounded reproachful.

Nodding slowly, Naruto looked away from her and quietly said, "You have no idea, Miya."

Right now, he wanted to speak volumes. He wanted to reprimand her, rebuke her for leaving him without any prior notification. He wanted to shout at her about the life he spent without her, and how difficult it was for him to face the world alone. And most of all, how horrible was her decision to leave him a little child in the form of Uzume with just a short note accompanied that just said following words - 'Please protect her'.

But then in the end, he thought it will be a pointless banter. Because at the end of the day, he knew that just like she said, he had grown strong; grown strong on those aspects of life, which he was getting very much dependent upon her. And as much as he had wished for her to come back in past, he was also aware that if she hadn't gone, he would have been a different person due to her pampering. So being the optimistic that he is – he decided to look at the brighter side of the topic and leave it at that.

And also if he was to be honest with himself, he still had a great deal of soft spot for her in his heart; making this decision easy for him to take. But even then, he could not help but wonder on one thing.

"Miya…" he started. Seeing that he had caught her attention, "What caused you to disappear like that, all these years ago?" He finished; his brows furrowed in honest curiosity.

Blinking thoughtfully at the question, Miya remained silent for few moments and then quietly shifted so that now she was resting her head in his chest. "It is a long story Naruto-kun." She finally spoke.

"I have time." His reply was quick and clear. And the underlying message that there will be no skirting around the topic was also quite clear.

Nodding, Miya sighed softly and said, "I know, Naruto-kun," then promptly looking up at him with a pleading look in her eyes, she said again, "But please trust me when I say that this is neither the suitable time nor the place to narrate the story."

A bit put off by her refusal, Naruto frowned and said, "Then when will this suitable time come then." His tone was beginning to reflect his impatience as they were getting more clipped with each passing second.

"Very soon, Naruto-kun, very soon," she tried to placate him. Then reluctantly letting her hold slip away from him, she picked up where she had left and donning a serious expression, she said "because soon, you will be learning the truth."

"Truth?" Naruto enquired; his frowning brows reforming into puzzled one.

"Yes, the truth that I think will be better explained by someone other than me."

For a brief second, Naruto was sure that he saw Miya looking incredibly sullen while saying that. Then dismissing it as a trick of light, he voiced out his thought. "And who is that person?"

Again, he silently noted. This time he was damn sure that he had seen her making a sour face. 'I am getting the feeling that whoever this person is, he or she is not on the top of her friend list.' He thought with certainty.

Meanwhile, unknown to his inner monologue, Miya rubbed the bridge of her nose and tersely said, "Minaka Hiroto, Director of MBI."

'Yup, not in the friend list for sure.' Naruto thought as he winced at the poor soul whose name the beautiful purplette had just spat.

***Scene Break***

**The Headquarters of History Compilation Committee**

In a dimly lit place that resembled some sort of conference hall, many people were heard whispering in a hushed tone. There, snippets of sentences like 'abruptly left' or 'concerned' or 'Prince Alec' were flying randomly around the room. And judging by the atmosphere surrounding the room, it seemed like there was some kind of unrest going on that they were all concerned about.

And in middle of all this was a group of rather silent people huddled up in their respective chair. Sometimes, once in a while some random pair of eyes will wander towards the empty posh seat situated exactly at the middle.

"Princess Alice-sama, do you have any inkling as to why Alexander Gascoigne-sama just left?" A bespectacled man with a kind look on his face spoke up to break the silence.

In a seat adjacent to the empty one, an elegant looking beautiful platinum blonde girl with bright green eyes turned her gaze towards him and said in a uncertain tone, "I may have some idea on this, but I am still unsure whether that is the cause or not."

Nodding in contemplation, the black haired man once again asked her, "And do you think it is possible for you to divulge this idea of yours, Alice-sama?"

Hearing the polite enquiry, Princess Alice didn't reply immediately; then a short while later, she nodded and asked the man, "Amakasu-san right?"

Seeing him nod, she let out a long breath and again asked, "Amakasu-san, I believe you were privy to the reason we traveled here, right?"

"Yes, Alice-sama, I am."

"Then you must probably know about the sudden and abrupt disappearance of the heretic gods around this locality from past few months."

"Yes, I am also aware of that, Hime-sama. As well as the fact that other organizations are also taking notice of this fact but without a Hime-Miko of your caliber in their ranks, they are unable to do anything at the moment." Amakasu respectfully sped up the conversation.

"You are quite knowledgeable on this topic, Amakasu-san." Princess Alice duly noted with an impressed expression.

Bowing slightly, the bespectacled man said, "I appreciate your praise your Alice-sama." Then straightening his back, his chest puffed out a bit as he spoke, "You must know that while the power of History Compilation Committee cannot be compared on the league of Witenagamot or those Black Cross Associations without the support of a Devil King, we can still be considered as one of the premier association with 4 prodigious Hime-Miko in our rank," he proudly finished.

"Ah, you don't have to explain that Amakasu-san. Why do you think Black Prince chose this association for?" Princess Alice bemusedly said.

"Oh…" Amakasu spluttered on his speech in embarrassment. Though quickly composing himself, showing his ability to be a good diplomatic person, he bowed down in contrite. "My apologies Alice-sama, it seems, I might have gotten a bit carried away there."

A light giggle escaped the platinum blonde's mouth. The other occupants of the room also seemed share the same idea as they too chuckled a little on poor Amakasu's expense.

"No problem, Amakasu-san," then abruptly getting serious, she said, "Now before we got sidetracked anymore, what I was saying that after being notified of this unexplainable disappearances, Black Prince and I decided to personally investigate it and Witenagamot was also supportive of this idea."

Now that the whole room was listening to her with rapt attention, she continued, "So after arriving here, I was immediately able to sense the presence of some powerful force in this area. At first I assumed it has the power of the heretic god of some earth nature, but then Black Prince refuted that claim. He was sure that whoever the powerful entity was it was not a heretic god."

"Then what was it?" someone asked from the other side of the room.

"We are still not sure." Princess Alice said. "The closest thing we can say is that it exhibits signs of alignment to Goddess Gaia."

"So that's why you believed it is related to some kind of earth god." Another voice, this time elderly came from her side.

"Yes." Princess Alice confirmed.

"But how does it relate to Black Prince-sama abruptly leaving this room?" Amakasu then questioned the question that was going through everyone's mind.

"Ah, about that; remember when I said that I sensed a powerful force immediately after coming here," a round of nod followed, "well, the fact is I would not have sensed it if it wasn't actively skirting around in our near vicinity."

"You mean someone was trying to assault you." Someone gasped, assuming the most preposterous.

"That was what I thought too, initially. But that notion was quickly shot down by Prince Alec himself; saying it wasn't the case. Then strangely, he declared that I should not stress myself further by trying to track him down. And so, with nothing relevant to say, I concurred." Princess Alice finished in a miffed tone.

A brief silence ensued in the room which didn't live long as Amakasu spoke his thoughts aloud. "It seems like whoever is that person; he is trying to test Alec-sama." His statement was met by a round of accepting nod as they all seemed to agree with him.

"That seems like it; but at this moment, we can only speculate." Here, Princess Alice statement rang truer than anything that had been spoken in this room today.

Meanwhile, in the not-so-important table where not-so-important-important-person-for-now were sitting, one Ena Seishuuin was trying her hardest not to yawn in fear of being spotted by other higher members of the committee. For one too many time, she had tried to discreetly do the aforementioned not-so-acceptable behavior, but for some ill-fated luck, someone always seemed to look her way at that exact moment.

Oh, the hardship of being a prim and proper Hime-Miko.

Why she had to even partake in this endeavor to become the perfect Miko was beyond her understanding. In her understanding, she was more suited for battle oriented situations; she did train from the very first day she remembered walking with all the passion and will of a warrior to be a master in her chosen discipline. Thus, the Miko part should come as supplementary, shouldn't it? This question gnawed like an unwanted garden worm in her mind.

Then glancing lazily at her chestnut brown haired best friend forever sitting by her side, who was listening to the foreign girl and Amakasu-san with a rapt undivided attention, she suppressed down the urge to sigh. A prodigious Hime-Miko in making; her best friend Yuri Mariya was the epitome of perfect person for this tedious job. And if that was not enough, Ena had learnt that her little sister was also proving to be great on this obscure art. In short, she was exact opposite of Ena in personality.

'Ne, Naruto-san… When do you think it will suitable for you to declare Ena as your wife?' With nothing to do, she resorted to shamelessly fantasize about certain blonde haired person, whom she had come to greatly idolize in these past few days. These past few days, it was her favorite way of passing time, and to further sweeten the deal, there was something vastly alluring about day dreaming about him than sitting out in these boring council meetings; even if the guest of honor was none other than the esteemed Black Prince, otherwise known as the Campione of Britain himself.

But fortunately for her, it seems lady luck decided to finally shine on her and end her boredom; because, in resounding crack reminiscent of lightning crashing against the ground, the Black Prince arrived back to the room he had left around half an hour ago.

'Wait, wasn't Alec-sama wearing a new piece of tuxedo before he disappeared,' Ena thought; her face in the state of perplexed expression as she looked at the smoking piece of charred black suit that resembled something a rag-picker with no other option available would wear. And she was not the only one baffled by his appearance. The other occupants of the enclosed room were also expressing the emotions similar to what she was displaying.

But it was not for long: because unknown to these 'insignificant' people whose only purpose was to serve the Devil King, the Black Prince was going to do something he deemed fit in the situation he was in. They may consider it as tyranny, but to him, there was only one thing that mattered most.

"I, Alexander Gascoigne the Black Prince, hereby declare that this country is under my jurisdictions and shall be considered as one of my territories: Any objections?"

Utter shock; that was what all the people there felt at first. Then it was closely followed by the crushing pressure that pushed them all to their respective knees. No matter who, whether the modern magus' of the highest order or the retired samurai warrior of the past; nobody was spared of this sudden veritable tide of immense will imposed upon them, driving the intended message into them like a blunt hammer: there must be no objection.

And Ena; she was just a normal Hime-Miko. No matter how powerful she maybe in battle: in front of a Campione of this caliber – who had just changed the very atmosphere around the room in matter of moments – she was totally certain that she was fighting a losing battle in her effort of standing upright.

Thus, staring with sweat pouring out of her face at the unconcerned cold gaze of Black Prince, a thought went fleeting through her mind. 'Naruto-san, Ena thinks now is the time for you to make your mark.' With that, she too succumbed to the pressure and unwillingly went to her knees.

***Scene Break***

Two sets of eyes: one blue, the other brown snapped in alert as the entire city began to darken above them. Their owners, acutely aware of the sudden influx of charged energy hanging in the air, abruptly stopped their forward movement.

"Did you feel that?" Miya asked.

Naruto nodded silently in reply.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Sighing, Naruto scratched his cheeks and said in a peeved voice, "Firstly, refrain from using any more clones on diplomatic matters in future I guess."

**A/N: Aaaand cut! So, how was it guys? Please review your thoughts. And believe me, even a single review – be it a constructive criticism or a plain old praise – is capable of boosting my writing morale.** **And I believe my fellow writers will agree with me on this.**

**Anyway, looks like there is gonna be a real clash between Prince Alec and Naruto. So what do you guys want:-**

**Utter humiliation of Alec.**

**Some mild humiliation.**

**Or just plain old boring tie match.**

**I hope you choose 1. Coz personally, I despise that snobby bastard: reminds of Sasuke in his Genin days.**


	5. Wounded Pride, Raging Fury

**A/n: Hello readers! Enjoy the new chapter for Meteora.**

**Disclaimer: Everything is owned by their respective owner.**

**Chapter 5 – Wounded Pride, Raging Fury**

"Prince Alec! What is the meaning of this?" The affronted voice of the most premier Hime-Miko loudly called out.

Princess Alice, or otherwise also designated as Sage Princess was in the state of profound hysteria. A while ago, with no prior notice or any sort of relevant motive, the Black Prince Alec had declared that the Country of Japan will now be recognized as one of his territory.

She was aware and also perfectly understood about the rule that says that a Campione has the absolute right to nominate any piece of land under his name, given the condition that it does not fall under one of the other Campione's empire: And if it is, than he will have to challenge the Campione residing there, and gain the rights to rule on it.

And so, she was also aware that Prince Alec had done no wrong when he had declared his kingship over the Land of Rising Sun.

But even so, the sudden and abrupt decision to do so had startled her so much that it had made her question about His Majesty's motives. Hence, even though she had no rights to doubt him, she was not afraid to question his seemingly impulsive decision. The fact that they went way back in the past also helped her case a little.

"Is that connection of yours becoming weak, Alice? Because it seems, you are grasping the events rather slowly." Alexander Gascoigne remarked in slight while he casually sat on a chair with his feet on the table in front of him.

Fuming at his callous statement, Princess Alice – the only one unaffected by the sea of pressure flooding the room due to her unique circumstances – strutted towards the haughty black haired man with her nose flaring and glared daggers to express her dissatisfaction.

Looking at her, Black Prince raised his eyebrow and deliriously asked, "What? Did I hurt your feelings?"

"Do not mock me, Prince Alec! I can tell that something is bothering you…"

"Oh you can tell? What a surprise!" the Black Prince interjected her tirade in a dramatic tone. Here, he sounded somewhat cynical to her. There was a sense of frustration hidden beneath it that she barely detected; only caught because of the amount of exposure time she had with him and his habits.

And while getting rebuked like did not at all felt nice to her, Princess Alice was now also suddenly aware of her own status and shortcomings. Her mouth opened and closed in attempt to say something without any avail. For a brief while, she began to play with the idea that maybe she might have crossed that red line which the Black Prince had forbidden her to cross through.

Alice, then shivered as she felt the tingle of fear running down her spine when her gentle yet firm gaze met his piercing and dark eyes, beneath which, unholy hellish fire unlike anything she had ever seen was smoldering hot in barely restrained rage.

At this moment, it might look like it was controlled but she knew that the truth was something else; and it was only a matter of time before Black Prince will lose any semblance of sanity in the face of this overwhelming battle-lust that was churning violently inside every cell of his body, and eventually make the world suffer for it.

And as much as she wanted did not wanted this from happening; the Sage Princess could do nothing. As an ectoplasmic projection of her actual body, she maybe the only one capable of actual movements: but the truth was that her hands were tied as much as the person kneeling next to her.

"Don't do this."

Though it seems, she had no need to exert herself as both their attention was suddenly grabbed by the soft female voice coming from their side.

The Black Prince and the Princess Alice watched with dazed fascination as a petite Japanese girl with shiny black hair covering her face like a dark veil tried to stand up with great visible struggle. Sweat pouring down from all over her face, she latched onto the desk beside her and using it as leverage, she stood up while her body shook like a wilting leaf in a wind as the pressure crushing upon her was too much for her to handle – so she had to lean against the aforementioned table.

"Please… Black Prince-sama… Don't do this." She said pleadingly in a breathy voice.

Impressed, that was what Black Prince felt for the dark haired girl as he eyed her inquisitively. If he remembered correctly, that Amakasu guy had introduced her as one of the prodigious Hime-Miko of this generation, who were training to work for the History Compilation Committee. Casting a calculating gaze at her, he decided to break the uncomfortable silence that had permeated the room.

"One reason," he coldly stated. At this moment, if she was not a juvenile young girl who he had deemed as relatively naïve, he would have already crushed her for daring to defy his will; whether he was impressed with that or not.

Ena Seishuuin for her part, felt like an injured deer in front of a starving lion as she breathed with extreme difficulty. Standing limply in front of a fuehrer figure like Black Prince, she tried to quash the dreaded feeling of fear coursing through every fiber of her being and quietly stated, "Because, this is the home of another King."

Deafening silence; more uncomfortable than the one that had followed after the declaration of Black Prince ensued as these whisper like words left her mouth. Then all of a sudden, in a manner vaguely reminiscent of looking at a bullet train moving at its full speed in front of her, everything after that was nothing but blur for her.

All she knew that in a matter of seconds; she had gone from struggling to stand fully, to hanging limply in a manner similar to a puppet without the strings, courtesy of being held in a chokehold by a very irate looking Campione.

"It looks like my ears were playing tricks to me just now, because I thought I heard something preposterous coming from your mouth." The black Prince bristled lowly. Then lifting her even higher to heighten her misery, he spoke in a low tone with a dangerous edge in his voice, "So do me a favor, and repeat what you were about to say… and yes… also make it truthful."

Despite being not able to breathe properly, Ena nodded quickly in fear and gaspingly said, "Alec-sama… these lands… already belongs to… Naruto-san the… Campione of…"

"I said TRUTH!" the Black Prince all of a sudden lost it as he howled in fury. And as to punctuate it, he let a continuous stream of electricity course into her to show his displeasure.

'You filth, you dare mock me by trying to refute my title!'

All the occupants of the room who were in there, were suddenly struck by the chilling hands of fear in their chest when in the dimly lit room, the haunting scene of a young teenage girl convulsed twistedly like a ragdoll in a ghastly melody of low buzzing electrical sound. It was all the more horrible as in spite of knowing that this was wrong, all remained silent as nobody could even move an inch in fear of drawing the merciless attention upon themselves.

But then, the silence was not meant to last forever though as the windpipe of silently screaming of girl finally found the air passing and with that – came the blood curling high pitched screams of the young girl in response to the insurmountable pain that this inhumane act of oppression was inflicting upon her.

And in the middle of this tyrannical hypocrisy, there was one who could not take it anymore.

"STOP THIS BLASPHEMY, ALEXANDER!" the only in control person of the room cried out feverishly, while she began to try her best to persuade him to let the poor girl go. "ALEXANDER GASCOIGNE, IF YOU CONTINUE THIS MADNESS GO THEN…"

_*SLAP*_

The highly electrocuted brunette fell like an empty sac to the ground as the Black Prince let her go, only to backhand slap the Sage Princess. "Shut your trap, you slave! You dare to interrupt a Campione!" He saw red.

_*SLAP*_

"That's why I asked for Witch of Sardinia."

_*SLAP*_

"But instead, they threw you to me for babysitting, you worthless bitch." With each passing moment, it seemed like the Black Prince was transforming from a mighty yet tyrannical king to a mere homicidal vengeful man with no sense of compassion in him. Drunk in the enthralling power of fury that was touched with the madness of self-importance; he looked like a man set out for a murder.

"Now BEGONE!" and murder he did, or attempted to as the megalomaniac cried out in conjunction with the release of a large volume of stream of electricity towards the direction of downed figure of the Princess Alice. And when he finally stopped the stream, there was nothing but a hole in the floor with a charred outline.

"You killed her…" A man somewhere down the left row whispered in horror as he saw the empty space where the body of the Sage Princess was few seconds ago.

Looking at him, the twisted face of Black Prince bristled, "As if killing that useless thing was that simple," he murmured in irritation.

Then straightening his back, he ran his hands through his tussled hair to smoothen them and then patting his singed coats, he pinned down all the people under his gaze and imperiously said, "So, as I was saying before this pest decided to rear their insignificant heads, does anyone here, have a problem with Japan being under my territory?"

He dared them to defy.

And after a while, seeing that no one was willing to take the dare after what they have just witnessed, the Black Prince cruelly smirked and commented, "Thought so!"

Though, that smirk couldn't last long as it was wiped out abruptly – because all of a sudden, he had to jerk his head violently to avoid a streaking silver bullet headed his way that sharply contrasted against the darkness of the night outside.

Soon, it was followed by the sudden and immediate destruction of the aforementioned window, and in the middle of this unanticipated chaos, the Black Prince felt a sharp prick akin to a bee stinging on his face.

_*Drip, drip*_

His body still as a statue, he tentatively brought his hands up to his face to touch the very small slit that had opened up on his left cheek. His mind was numb as his fingers slowly moved along its already healing length to feel a drying trail of blood going down to his chin and then dripping off from there to the stone floor below.

Without moving from his spot, he slowly turned his head to see a katana buried up to half its entire length in the wall behind him. Instinctual reflex: that was the thankful thing which had worked overtime to save him just now from getting a fatal hit from the aforementioned blade in his head. But it would seem that as fast his reflexes were, it was not enough to save him from getting that small wound in his cheeks.

And as he stood still with kicked off dust from the destroyed all around him, a rather vicious flying kick aimed at this chin made sure that a small wound was not the only thing on the menu to be served in his plate this night, because due to his less than ideal and amateurish act of standing shocked still, it made him a wonderful target for this type of assault. Thus, because of the force behind the kick – which you all must know was nothing to laugh at – the British Campione went sailing through the wall and beyond in another show of its destruction.

"Thanks for that diversion, Miya!" Naruto gratefully commented as he waved his hand in front of him to fan the dust hanging in the air out of his way.

_*Shink* _the sound of the embedded sword being pulled out from its spot filtered in as Miya nodded to acknowledge his thanks. Then looking around the room, she slashed her sword in an invisible target to summon a gust of wind that blew away the dust. And in doing so, she was the first one to notice the lightly smoking figure of a downed girl in the floor.

"Naruto!" she hurriedly sheathed Totsuga-no-Tsurugi and nudged her companion to get his attention.

"What…" he turned to her with an enquiring look which soon turned into shock as he too hurriedly got down beside her, "… Ena!" he cried out in concern as he frantically picked up the disturbingly pale face of the downed brunette. Getting a closer look at her, he felt his blood churn inside him in fury as he looked at her state.

The first thing he noticed was her hair; those beautiful dark strands that shined like the most expensive of silk, now looked dull metal grey with smoke wafting off from it. And to make the matter worse, her skin complexion looked like it was mildly cooked from inside with some peeling off occurring here and there. And also the way by which her eyes seemed to roll backwards in lackadaisical manner; it all made him nearly explode.

"Oh such a beautiful little thing," he heard the remorseful voice of Miya as she tenderly caressed the face of Ena. "How can someone be this heartless to do this to a child." she whispered.

"The same bastard who is going to wish he never stepped on these lands." Naruto growled out in animalistic guttural voice as he sharply stood up. "5 minutes Miya." It was all he said.

Not even waiting for her reply, he quickly turned on his heels and jumped out from the same hole in the wall that the British Campione had made a short while ago while getting launched away from his kick.

As his foot touched the ground outside, it didn't take long for him to spot the figure of his opponent standing on the crown of the rooftop of the adjacent room. Blue orbs coldly locked into black orbs and then both set of eyes narrowed as they tried to upsize the other mentally.

"I commend upon your bravery to have what it takes to face me, boy." Naruto heard the powerful voice of the man carried over to him.

"…what happened on the beach was merely a fluke. Suffice to say, it seems I had underestimated you."

Then in a show of false grandeur, he spread his arms, "But now, as you can see, this is my arena. And you, I will make an example of you for the world to see." his voice was brimming with murderous excitement. The wind, as though sensing this; picked up its speed around him.

*_Boom*_

Naruto attention was momentarily taken away by the humongous thunderclap above him. He silently noted that the sky – that was free of any clouds minutes ago – had rapidly darkened, and with it, had brought along with the patented orchestra of age-old nature's battle tone, pumping his blood with adrenaline.

"…So, open your eyes wide and don't miss a moment." The Black Prince crooned like a peacock.

"Because now, you plebian will be blessed with the might of Ca… WHAT!" he cried out in surprise while he jumped away from the spot he was standing in haste; just to see the place he was standing mere moments ago being reduced to dust in matter of a second by the blonde, who had emerged out of nowhere with a fascinating looking tennis sized ball of energy swirling violently in his hands.

Midflight, the Black Prince locked his gaze with frost like blue orbs of the masked blonde, who was still bent down on the destroyed spot.

'Fast…,' was his frantic thought. Landing on the ground with a grace of the ballerina he was just about to retaliate in kind, when he got another healthy dose of shock.

"For an angry guy, you talk too much." Another Naruto came out of nowhere and closed in into him; a tad too close than he liked.

Bringing his hands up to parry the incoming right jab, the Black Prince let his gaze briefly wonder back to top of the floor to see the Naruto who had initiated the attack, still crouched down and looking at him like a hawk like gaze.

'What kind of cheap circus trick is this?' he thought in vindication.

Though soon, he had to focus back from the problem above to the problem in hand as the original Naruto, who was engaging him at the moment, was proving more than a match for him. And if he was not ashamed to admit, was proving better than him, if him being pushed back despite his larger frame was anything to go by.

"What kind of sorcery is this? Tell me! How can there be two of you?" The Black Prince demanded loudly in anger as he distanced himself away from the seemingly possessed blonde; keeping his eyes on both copies of Narutos while at the same time trying to avoid the lightning fast flurry of punches and kicks headed his way was taking a visible toll on him.

Naruto scoffed at him and spoke in a condescending voice, "Che, stuck up bastard ..."

Not wanting give Prince Alec a time to stretch his legs, he darted towards the direction of the still caught off guard Campione in a zigzag manner and as he got close to him, he brought up his right leg behind him, "…the world doesn't revolve around you, you hypocrite!" and as the Black Prince brought his guards up in anticipation to block his already telegraphed kick, Naruto smirked and then, instead of kicking as Prince Alec had anticipated, he slid by him.

'What in the…ack!' the Black Prince looked down in surprise only to get a completely unexpected nose crunching punch from another copy of Naruto, who had burst out from the ground.

And here, for the second time in this short meeting of theirs, the Black Prince – involuntarily again – rode the wind currents to get eventually plastered in the tree trunk opposite to him with a loud crash, that threw wooden splinters everywhere.

**Meanwhile, Back in the Council Room**

"Amazing…" the awe filled whisper of Amakasu travelled around the room as all the people of – who were equally transfixed – looked at another copy of Naruto moving his glowing green hands over the body of Ena.

"And you say he is not a Campione?" Amakasu whispered in disbelief while looking at the beautiful purplette garbed in some kind of black uniform like dress.

"No he isn't." Miya confirmed in a mildly irritated tone for what seemed like an umpteenth time.

It had only been about a minute but Miya was already wishing that these people were better off in their submissive position before the influence of the Black Prince had gone away with him. As soon as the real Naruto had gone off to kick the stuck up ass of the British man, a clone had climbed back while saying that he was there to stabilize the health of Ena.

And it was after that when all this repetitive questions about the blonde had started coming in. And since, the blonde copy had to concentrate on his task; she was the unwilling one to quell all their seemingly endless doubts.

"So, if he is not a Campione, how is he this powerful?" Miya rolled her eyes as another curious one came in front of her. Tilting her head cutely, she donned her patented smile-of-doom and sweetly asked, "Do I look like a walking encyclopedia to you?"

The shabby looking man sputtered in his response at that and shaking his head in no, he hurriedly scooted back; and as for the others, they wisely kept quiet.

"All done!" the clone Naruto happily said as he gently brushed away the few strands of hair that had gotten into the now healthily glowing face of unconscious Ena.

"Miya," without looking at her, he then called out to the purplette and when he had got her attention, fixated her with a serious gaze and said, "Boss had relayed that he wants you to take care of her and Uzume, in case the fight gets out of control."

And as in cue, a sound of the booming thunder came inside the room from outside.

Ignoring the wave of murmuring of people who were huddled around the window in an attempt to catch a glimpse of battle going outside, she raised her one eyebrow as she locked her gaze with the clone and asked back, "And what makes you think I wasn't going to do that?"

The clone shrugged, "Just telling, Miya."

Then as he was about to poof out, he looked back at her and then, in a scenario that contrasted heavily with the general atmosphere of the room currently, he foxily grinned and said, "Meh, why the long face, Miya. Don't you know, it doesn't suit you." then getting real close to her, he touched her forehead with his and gazing at her puzzled doe like eyes, his grinned widened.

"Tell you what, let me part with an inside info to you," he teasingly said as he cupped her slowly heating face, "Boss is to too chicken to tell you this, but good for you that I am not."

Killing the imminent question which he had foreseen coming by placing a finger on her lips, he gave a lopsided smirk and leaning close, whispered in her ears, "You know, boss thinks that you are one hell of a sexy chick with a great plushy ass and luscious bosom to die for."

A brief pause… then…

_*Shink* *Slash* *Poof* *Click*_

A lobster red Miya again sheathed her sword with a click while muttering something incorrigible under her breath that suspiciously sounded like 'perverted clones' to the nearby peoples. Shaking her head to get rid of these unnecessary thoughts for now, she adjusted Uzume on her back and went by the window to look outside.

'Looks like he is about to get serious now,' she mused as she looked at the blonde.

And as she stared at the two titanic powers about to heat up the beat; Miya silently urged for Naruto to put a worthwhile show for her and impress her – and prove to her that choosing him as her mate was not a wrong decision at all.

'Show me your power Naruto-kun. Show me, how far you have grown in these years. And show me, how you are worthy of making me submissive. Show me!'

**Back in the 'Arena'**

Alexander Gascoigne grunted in pain as the blue orbs he had come to hate so much in these past few minutes grinded like a vicious drill against his chest in what seemed like it was attempting to make its way through there.

Gnashing his teeth, his grunt turned into furious growl as he dug his heels into the ground and turned his upper body counter clockwise from the waist above to land his elbow on the head of a copy of Naruto with a satisfying sound of crunch, which was holding him in an iron grip from his shoulders.

The clone didn't stand a chance; it immediately poofed out in a puff of superficial smoke as it could not handle the physical trauma.

And while the Prince briefly relished on this, he could not for much longer. He scrunched up his nose when he caught the familiar smell of burning ozone in the air surrounding him. The dissipating smoke of the recently deceased clone was still thick on the air, so it was making it a bit of a trouble to pinpoint the cause. But even then, the sound of buzzing hum was very, very familiar. It was as if it was –

"You fiend!" he cursed out loud as he narrowly dodged the stream of lightning that was aimed at his heart. Sliding across the ground, he felt his loudly beating heart thumping in rage against his ribcage; probably angry with him for not being more cautious on its wellbeing.

Instinctual reflexes: that was the thing that had saved him just now from the fate of death. If it wasn't for it, he would have died an embarrassing death for sure.

Struck dead by his own element of expertise; he would have become a laughing stock for years to come; a speck of black mark in the proud history of Devil Kings who would have been deemed forever as an idiotic king.

Looking above from his crouched position with red haze filling his vision, he growled like a prideful beast whose judgment was challenged. Snarling in fury, he tensed his legs and rocketed off to the masked blonde in a speed far superior than before. After all, the time for playing was over in his mind.

"You cheap runt! How dare you…" he shouted out as he buried his knee on the solar plexus of Naruto, knocking the wind out of the smaller male. Hearing the blonde fighter grunting as he doubled over in pain, Alec lashed out with his hand and roughly grabbing a fistful of golden strands in his hands, he lifted the blonde above him and brought him down with all his power to the ground, caving a rather large crater.

"Playing fancy tricks that keep mocking me…" he ferociously began to rain down countless number of punches that further dug the head of the blonde inside the already cratered ground.

"…I will make you pay…" cocking his right hand backwards, he covered it with his signature element and brought it down like jackhammer on the blonde's head to punctuate his statement, "… for this!"

_*POP*_

"Wha... what!"

Instead of blood and gore that the Black Prince was eagerly waiting for, as soon as he delivered the fatal blow, he was greeted by the abrupt metamorphic transformation of the blonde's body from that of flesh and bones to that of made up of wood.

Shell-shocked, Alec could not comprehend the possibility of this happening. He nearly fell when he stumbled back with a gob-smacked expression in his face. 'How can this be possible?' this thought line made an endless loop in his head.

And unbeknownst to the Black Prince, in this frozen stupor of his, a sliver of chance was created; not for him, for his opponent.

Suddenly, from beneath Alec, woods and vines burst forward and wrapped around him, catching him in a bone crushing grip with force so great, it would have made an experienced anaconda jealous. Even the wooden body lying in front of him disintegrated and joined in to further his misery.

And as for Naruto, after ensuring that the British Campione was firmly under his grasp, he jumped down from the roof he was perched upon all this time. Casting an emotionless gaze, he moved close to the despicable man.

"If you don't…mmmph…mmph…" Naruto slapped his hands over the mouth of the older male and made a 'keep quiet' motion with his finger on his lips.

The Black Prince, glared venomously at him for that, but that glare soon turned into trepidation when he noticed the blue spiraling energy ball again forming in the blonde's hand.

But to his growing concern, it didn't stop there.

Soon, small specks of black flame like thing were beginning to mix into the ball and in conjunction; he felt the heat in his near vicinity rising steadily and considerably. Closing his eyes to let the trail of sweat pass over his eyelid, lest it fall into his eyes; he opened them to see that the small tennis ball sized ball had turned into pitch black obsidian ball of flaming destruction.

"_Enton: Rasengan"_

And this was how; the world came to know that even a Devil King can be a nice little screamer.

Here, if it wasn't for the supernatural divine endurance that every Campione was gifted with, the Black Prince would have been already burnt to death by the unholy fire whose heat was comparable to that of sun. In fact, the heat emitting from the obsidian black fire was so great that Naruto had to think quickly and erect a barrier of stone all around him, lest the inhabitants of the History Compilation Committee Headquarters be injured.

And amidst all this chaos, the Black Prince was trying his best to survive. In every part of his body, he felt imaginary sharp pin like things viciously pricking him, sapping the energy out from him. His body was in so much pain from all this scalding hot fire trying to devour, his brain had stopped taking signals from the pain receptors of his body, lest he goes mad from the pain.

Soon, it was becoming too much for him to even breathe properly from the lack of oxygen. He knew that he should remain calm in this situation, but it was easier said than done, because as it stands, your own mind can become your worst enemy in this kind of situation. A part of it will try to rationalize, but the majority will work overtime to escape, which ironically in turn, pushes you further into trouble.

As the seemingly living fire continued to torch him alive, the Black Prince felt his weakened, battered and partially charred body finally give out under him in this damnable heat.

'Is this how, I, the Black Prince, the Campione of Britain will die?' He heard himself ask in his conscience. How can this happen? How can a mere boy torment him so easily? He couldn't comprehend.

Was he always this pathetic? He thought, a seed of doubt growing in his mind. In his vain attempt to escape from this hell, he was getting increasingly pessimistic. He could not help it as he fell to his knees.

And then, as if to further mock him, in a far recess of his mind, a voice from the past echoed.

"_Do you assume that just because you are a King now, you can defeat the Ruler of Martial Realm? Surely, you must be delusional if you think so... Pathetic! Campione of Britain… from what I have witnessed, you are not even worthy of this grand title of the Supreme Ruler... You are just a mere common thief... Thus, go away… and never come back… and be thankful, for I had been merciful and granted you the gift of life for your impressive feat of soiling my clothes."_

Words spoken in the past that still haunted him. Words, that reminded him of his incompetence. Words, that drove him to strive forward and never look back. And words, that angered him so much, it was incomprehensible.

Naruto's gaze suddenly turned to the night sky as it crackled ominously. The winds howled as the thunder that had died a little, again began to appear all over the dark sky. They were more erratic, they were louder, they were more thunderous and last but not the least; they reflected the emotions of the Black Prince.

Naruto was no fool. He had realized that the mood of the atmosphere had changed. A pseudo miracle had occurred. The injured lion had gained the second wind to roar once again. To thunder, that he is still the King of this jungle and no upstart shall be allowed to roam free on his watch.

The course of the battle seemed like it had abruptly turned its head. And the age-old saying – Campiones are one hell of lucky bastards began to rung true.

The stage was set. The spotlight had lightened up. Now, it was the time for the play to commence.

"_Thunder, descend!"_

"_Thunder of the blue sky!"_

"_Be thou faithful unto death! And I will give thee a crown of life!"_

There is another saying that says – Words are more powerful than anything else in this entire universe. And right now, as the one of the sacred Authority was evoked, the saying felt truer than ever.

Naruto watched: as the first drop of rain hit the ground, a bolt of lightning that was so unlike its fellow peers – it being a deep shade of midnight black – roared with so much intensity and power that it shook the very ground he was standing. Snaking its way from the clouds to the outstretched hands of the Prince Alec in fraction of a second, it rejuvenated the fallen Prince.

Naruto brought up his hands in front of him in a futile attempt to shield him from the incoming wave of debris and splinters. Thinking quickly, he waved his hands around him to extinguish the eternal black flames before it can do any collateral damage. While doing so, he was also keeping an eye firmly in front of him. For many obvious reasons, he was feeling queasy about what had happened just now.

"Missing me brat?"

His eyes widened in surprise, Naruto felt someone grab his neck before he could even get away from there, and the next thing he knew, he was being bombarded from all possible sides by army of stinging lightning bolts.

'No, not bolts!' he corrected. Now that he had caught the glimpse of him, he had realized that somehow, Alec had transformed his whole body into some sort of lightning avatar, which was allowing him to literally zip around in the speed of lightning. But it seems overwhelming speed was only thing it granted him. The power behind the strikes was ignorable.

He then frowned when the taste of blood assaulted his taste buds. This worried him a little. The power maybe ignorable for now, but the speed at which they were coming his way was not. Slowly but surely, he was sure that it will build up to that stage, when it may prove dangerous to him if he did not devise a plan to get out from this whirlwind of relentless lightning jabs.

So straining his body to its limits, Naruto started to respond in kind. He took pride in the fact that he was also a very fast individual, who till now, had yet to encounter an opponent faster than him. But no matter how fast he was; the speed of lightning was still unmatchable. And to couple with that, the Black Prince had the added benefit of not experiencing any sort of air drags on his unique 'body'. So needless to say, Naruto had to accept this consternating fact that he was getting owned on his own game.

'But not for long.' Naruto stomped down the urge to smirk. He had thought of a plan and he was going to implement it.

'Now, how do we stop an over speedy animal?' following the blurring figure of his enemy with his very motion sensitive eyes, he waited for the perfect moment. He had figured out a while ago that while the Black Prince was exceptionally fast, for some reason, he was slowing down for few seconds every once in a while. It was very likely that he was doing that to relieve the built up stress of moving at the speed of lightning. But whatever it was, he was going to exploit this hole.

Thus, whilst he was taking a pounding, he was also noting when exactly he did that. And if he had calculated correctly, then this was likely the moment. Closing his eyes, he let the ocean of energy churning inside him to calm down from its excited state.

For him, in this fraction of quintessentially precious second, the world became deathly still. At this moment, he was aware of everything and also at the same time, detached from everything. And in this contradiction of logical sense, his conscience latched into the ambient primordial force of nature for just a brief amount of time deemed necessary by him.

To the outside world and the Black Prince, it seemed like he was just standing there in what could be considered as suicidal move. But unknown to them, Naruto had just borrowed energy so strong from his surrogate mother – the Nature – it ridiculously empowered him leaps and beyond from how powerful he already was. And to show this powerful harmony, there was nothing more than a brief flash of orange shade around his closed eyes.

As the Black Prince moved in to close the gap between them, he sensed an odd foreboding feeling while looking at the still Naruto; ignoring it though as nothing, he tried to punch a hole through the blonde. Seemingly succeeding, he was about to follow it up when all of a sudden, he fell down comically. And with the speed he was travelling, his body momentum caused him to tumble horribly all over the place; till with a resounding snap of metallic ringing sound, he was stopped just before he could kiss the far wall hello.

Shaking the cobwebs off from his head, Alec tried to push himself off the ground. But instead of getting up as he had tried, he stumbled further.

"What in the hell…" he looked down in confusion. "What the fuck is this thing?" he asked out loud when he saw his hands and feet tied together by some kind of ethereal looking chain.

Suddenly going frantic upon realizing that even his avatar state could be marginalized by these glowing blue chains of energy, he writhed around with all the power he could muster to break out.

'Not this shit again.' He was getting captured too much for his liking. The sense of dread and the hopelessness he was feeling from the moment he felt the chains wrapping around him grew stronger, when he, in a flash of yellow, saw the figure of his opponent appear in front of him.

Naruto tightened the grip of energy chains around the downed Campione as he jumped above him. Few seconds ago, when Alec had punched his after-image, he, in his nature enhanced state had got around him and chained him to inhibit from moving around. And now that the Prince was vulnerable again, he had burst into action.

"And down went Alice…" he monotonously recited as he formed a pitch black rod in his hand and stabbed it into the avatar of lightning. "…through the rabbit hole." Harder than steel and strong as diamond, the rod made of unknown material easily pierced the avtarified Campione. And then, physics happened.

But Naruto did not stop here. If he was right, then the Black Prince will not settle down this easily. He had predicted that the Black Prince will obviously let go of his avatar form – lest he get disintegrated inside the ground. And when he does that, Naruto will be there to punish him.

And as if in cue, Naruto caught sight of a slight indentation forming in the wet ground few yards away in front of him. Without a second thought, he dashed above it and smashed his hands through the ground but unfortunately, missed.

But he was anything but un-resourceful.

Thinking quickly, he channeled a large amount of energy into the ground. Nothing happened at first, but then all of a sudden, the whole ground inside the barrier that was already muddy from the fierce rain, transformed into a deep swampy pit that swallowed everything above it. And to make the matter worse for on-the-run Campione, long stones in the shape of spear like spikes began to randomly jut out of the swamp to rat him out.

And because of all this factors working against him – soon, like a cornered cockroach, Alec distraughtly burst out of swamp ground, with his mud covered body flailing wildly, as a rather vicious looking spike came hot on his ass.

Hook, line and sinker: This was what Naruto was waiting for.

"_Fuuton: Kaze no Yaiba"_

Only to get lacerated mercilessly by the horde of razor sharp blades of wind that came his way with the intention of cutting him apart. As the dozen or so ghost like blades finally dissipated, the Nobleman of God Speed fell down with a dirty plop in the muddy artificial swamp while bleeding heavily from all over his body.

And suddenly, all the energy in the air charged by the rage induced adrenaline felt quiet. Deathly silence akin to that of a graveyard drearily permeated the enclosed area; broken only by the ground-shaking roar of thunder and the continuous pitter patter of the rain.

But the lion was still not willing to give up his authority this soon.

"_Wind that sings of fascination,_

_Night which devours the light, all…"_

_*Squelch*_

"Oh no you don't!"

Naruto upon hearing the recital had immediately acted and threw a stake of stone jutting out beside him. The stone, with its already hard composition that was further reinforced by the cutting power of winds, easily buried into the bloody gut of the black haired Campione.

"First time was a mistake on my part. But after seeing how much of a pain it can be, I am not willing to test my luck again." Naruto said with sarcasm in his voice.

And thus, the play was about to be concluded. The lesson that – For every mighty lion, there is a lion tamer was delivered.

But the atmosphere, it was still as tense as ever, since, the epilogue was yet to be delivered.

Gradually, the landscape began to gain their original form before the fight had begun as Naruto made his way towards the gutted Prince. Reaching near him, Naruto gazed pityingly upon the wounded figure of the falsely prideful man and without even batting his eyes – yanked out the bloody stone pike.

"Arrrggghhhhh!" He heard the Prince howl like an injured pig as he roughly lifted him up.

"You… you will regret this…" Naruto scoffed at what he considered a hollow threat and steadied the older male by supporting him with his left hand. Then as the man gained a semblance of steadiness on his standing, Naruto lowered down his mask to reveal his face.

The youthful face, contorted in restrained anger was beginning to tremble slightly, as for the first time in this long and tedious night, Naruto showed his emotions. Till now, he had kept a firm hold on them, lest it gets better of him. But now, he just wanted to finish this meaningless fight. He did not even want to bother by talking to this worthless piece of shit, because it was not even worth it.

Scowling darkly as the image of scorched body of Ena flashed in his mind, his fist clenched tightly against Alec's muddy clothes. Then looking through his blonde hair draped down over his eyes by the rain, he released his hold.

And that was when the Black Prince realized what it means to be truly outclassed. Rendered speechless by the sudden spike of ridiculous amount of killing intent saturating the very air around him; it felt like it was trying to choke him to death as he watched with shock etched in his face at the boyish face of his opponent.

'So this is what it feels like.' His inner monologue ran as he piteously stood by the support of blonde warrior.

"My apologies for being harsh… but you… you made it personal." Naruto growled out as a distinct sound of screeching metal began to reverberate around the surrounding.

"_Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!"_

**A/n: And that's it! Phew… I finally finished this. So how was it? Please, Read and Review!**

***Last time, there was an overwhelming support for utter humiliation of Alec. (Poor Bastard) So I tried my best to write this piece but if I failed short, you guys are always welcome to help me.**

****And if you have question about how Naruto can use those elements, then it is a canonic fact that Naruto can use every elements from Naruto-verse because of Bijuu's. Look up for it in Narutopedia.**

*****A cyber cookie for the one, who can tell who is the person that mocked Alec in the past.**

******Now, next to be updated will be the reboot of my first story: Slayer of the World. God knows how many readers I may have turned off by pulling it down abruptly.**


	6. Friend Or Not

**A/N: Hello everyone. Long time no see, huh. Like I said, my personal life is bearing its full weights upon me so my updating rate has really taken a big hit.**

**Anyway, here's the latest chapter. Enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything legal.**

**Chapter 6 – Friend Or Not**

As the glowing silver rays of moon once again began to break through the dark roof of the black clouds in the sky, Naruto found himself looking down at the battered body of the Black Prince. His ears twitched lightly as the various unidentified voices began to drift into his ears; expressing their surprise, expressing their awe, and expressing their fear.

Not that he was interested in them, so he tuned them out.

Listlessly staring at the mauled figure of the Black Prince, whose blood was caking the ground beneath him with his divine ichor, he could not help but be disappointed. He had expected… a little bit more from the British Campione. He had come here expecting a lion, but what he faced was a hyena: someone who was not even worthy of being regarded as a king.

It was not that the Black Prince was utterly full of hot air with no credibility. Because, the tenacity and endurance the older male between them had shown today was impressive to say at the least.

After all, nobody had lived to see another day after getting a direct hit from either the Blaze Rasengan, or it's even more destructive sibling, the Rasenshuriken. They were deemed as S-class techniques and act like S-class technique they did – by completely obliterating their target from existence. But amazingly somehow, Alexander Gascoigne, the Black Prince, had endured both of them, giving justice to some of the respect shown to him.

But even then, it doesn't change the fact that he was a gigantic douchebag and right now, Naruto was feeling way better after pounding him to the ground.

The feel of the air dispersing softly around him was all it took for him to realize that Miya had arrived beside him, little Uzume still sleeping on her back. Turning towards her slightly, he nodded his head once to acknowledge her. The purplette mirrored his action.

"I think we should go now." Miya stated. "Or do you want to speak with them?" She waved her hand towards the headquarter building.

Naruto scoffed. "Why would I want to talk to these cowards?" Needless to say, he wasn't happy with the way Ena was treated before he got here. An innocent girl was being tortured in front of their eyes, and all these so called great mages and warriors had done was sit behind a joint banner that said – We are happy to lick your ass, Mr. Campione.

'Such a masterful and elegant display of chivalry and bravery,' his thought dripped with heavy sarcasm.

Speaking of Ena, Naruto flashed away and mere seconds later, flashed back to reveal a sleeping Ena on his back. Miya arched her eyebrow on seeing that. She opened her mouth to ask something, but then deciding against it, closed it.

"Alright then, let's go!" And with that said, their figures blurred away.

***Scene Break***

**Unknown Location**

"I don't understand." A deep male like voice reverberated around a hollow cavernous surrounding, which had a strange reddish-orange glow permeating the entirety of it. Underneath the low hanging fog, soft sloshing of water was heard when the being who had spoken shifted around a little.

"What is there to understand, Kurama?" The familiar voice of Naruto asked, staring at the sea of crimson on which, his image was reflecting.

Kurama was a friend of Naruto, whose soul was sealed inside his body in the distant past. Thus, forming a sort of symbiotic relationship from which they both benefited greatly. Their life, fate and power, it all was intertwined with a bond so strong, even Death will find it impossible to separate them.

Or that was what Kurama had suggested.

And also, Kurama was not a human. He was humongous, nine-tailed demon fox who closely resembled Inari from Japanese folklore. The only difference: one was considered as god, and the other as demon.

"Tch, don't try to be smart with me, Naruto!" Kurama glared at his partner, which was a rather difficult task for him to do with Naruto sitting upon his snout and all.

"Meh, nothing escapes by you, huh!" Naruto sighed in mock defeat. Sometimes he really hated the fox for possessing such keen eyes. Folding his hands behind his head, he laid back and nonchalantly said, "Well it was those blasted dreams again, if you must know."

The fox went silent on hearing that. Naruto had not seen it, but he could surely feel the intense gaze Kurama was directing towards him, probably trying to figure out something.

"Hey Kurama," Naruto then casually began. "I have always wondered about this. How do you speak without moving your jaw?" he asked with honest curiosity. But instead of getting the answer, he felt his body suddenly tumbling through the air as Kurama shook him off and in a brief while, his body felt wet, courtesy of the ample amount of shallow depth water present in the cavern.

Spitting the water out from his mouth, he shouted in mock fury, "Hey what's the big idea, you overgrown furball!"

Trying to be mature one between the two of them, Kurama resisted the desire to get into the shouting match and simply smirked. "Serves you right!" he said. Nobody but him must know the secret art of speaking without moving his mouth. That skill took him hundreds of years to master and you can count on him to not give away the secret of it this easily.

Then getting his head down to the level of Naruto, he settled it upon his crossed fore paws and spoke, "Now get serious and tell me about that dream."

Catching the hint, Naruto shook his head last time to get rid of the water and after wiping his face, said, "It was nothing much… Just some flashes of a girl lying on the rubble… And there was a man with strange eyes. Said he was the god…" Naruto tried hard to remember the bits and pieces.

"What happened then?"

"After that…" Naruto furrowed his brows, "… everything was dissolved in red."

"So that's it?" After a brief pause, Kurama asked, staring hard at him.

"Well, yeah!" Naruto shrugged.

Hearing that, Kurama closed his eyes as a new worry began to settle on his ancient mind. 'As I feared, it seems I can't stop his old memories from reuniting with him. Slowly but surely, they are getting back to him.'

"Troublesome!" he muttered, in a manner that would have made a certain pineapple head very proud.

"What is troublesome?"

"None of your concern," Kurama said dismissively. "Anyway, Is that purple-head the girl you told me about?" he tried to change the topic, not wanting to dwell on the subject too much in front of Naruto.

"Yes she is." Naruto said in affirmation. When Naruto had met Kurama for the first time, Miya had already gone from his life. So all the fox knew about her was that she was a relatively good person who helped Naruto to better mesh in this world.

"I noticed she is like you, and quite powerful too." Kurama bluntly stated, not the one with the habit to skirt around.

Naruto raised his eyebrow at that revelation. He had his suspicion, but to get confirmed by Kurama – Two souls far from their home, stranded in a strange place helping out each other. 'Maybe that was the reason we connected so well.' he thought.

"Do you trust her?" he heard Kurama ask.

"I… I don't know." His shoulders slumped as he answered Kurama. "6 years ago, the answer might have been different… But right now, I really don't know." His voice was laced with unsure tone.

"Well that is understandable." Kurama commented in support. "To still trust her blindly without knowing current her motives, only a fool would do that."

"Hai, hai, sensei!" Naruto mock saluted.

"I am serious here, stupid. So, don't get cheeky with me." Kurama reprimanded. "Anyway, it seems the time for you to wake up has come. That Miya girl is calling you."

Naruto blinked owlishly. "Hey how is it that you can hear outside my body, while I can't? After all, this is my body."

"Well that…" Kurama smirked viciously, "…is due to my awesomeness." And with that said, he pushed Naruto back into the living world from the mindscape.

Xxx

When Naruto opened his eyes back in the world of living, the first thing he noticed was the veil of purple in front of his eyes blocking out the morning sun rays from reaching him. Though he noticed, the radiant face of Miya was doing a good substitution of the fireball she was blocking with how bright her expression was.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun!" she chimed.

Groaning a bit, Naruto sat up and sleepily greeted back, "Ohayo, Miya!" and yawned loudly. That was the thing. No matter how energetic and full of energy he was in his mindscape, in the real world, the case was different. And right now, his body was reflecting the results of sleeping for just about three hours.

"Oh man…," he rubbed his face. "How can you be in full battery this early?"

Miya giggled, "I didn't sleep at all."

Naruto gave a flat look at her. "And how does that explain anything?"

"Now, now, I will explain everything later. But first, go get ready for the breakfast." And then, Miya shooed him away to take care of the room.

When Naruto was all freshened up, he began to look around the house he was staying in. 'Maison Izumo' was a traditional oriental house, which unlike majority of modern houses which were made up of steel and concrete, it was made up of wood. Since the condition of his cabin was less than habitual to house all four, Miya had suggested that they come here after the events of last night.

"Naruto-san!" suddenly Naruto was thrown back against the wall of the living room he had entered, when a certain super happy brunette who greatly adored him, glomped him like a giant teddy bear in a bone crushing hug.

"Thank you for helping Ena, Naruto-san. Thank you for helping her. I knew you would come. I always…" And the praise continued to fall upon him like the monsoon shower, blissfully ignoring the obvious discomfort the sun-kissed blonde was feeling under a rather blossoming body of a young female.

"Ne, nii-san. I never pictured you as an ero before this time." An underhanded comment from Uzume was all it took for Naruto to finally get the hyper Hime-Miko under some measure of control, who was proving rather unwilling and difficult to get from him.

"I am not a pervert!" he exclaimed.

"Ara… I may have something to say for that." Miya popped out of nowhere. And by the look of it, she was here to further deepen the misery of our favorite blonde hero.

"Remember what your clone said to me last night, Naruto-kun." She wiggled her eyebrows coyly.

And suddenly, the color drained from Naruto's face as all of a sudden, all things the clone had said to Miya came back crashing down at him.

The ability to transfer information and knowledge gained upon their short life span: It was the greatest ability of Shadow clones. Because of this, Naruto preferred them to other clone variation despite their lower than average tenacity and endurance.

And sometimes, especially in battle situation, Naruto had developed the habit to ignore the immediate supply information from the dismissed clones in favor of concentrating on opponent in front of him, so that he would not get distracted by the sudden influx of foreign information in his head. These memories could later be accessed when some kind of trigger, usually any kind of topic related to them was mentioned.

Generally, this method proved greatly helpful, but it was events like these, which forced him to wonder whether there were any alternative solutions or not. Shadow clones were awesome, but sometimes they were just pain in ass.

And suddenly again, the color returned back to his face as rage filled him and his body began to shake with unbridled fury.

'That fucker, I will kill that bastard!' he silently thundered. He was about to retort in his defense, but little Uzume beat him to it.

"YOU!" she shouted, pointing her finger at Miya. "Why did you knock me out when nii-san got there? So that you can get mushy with hi…"

*POW*

The sound of flesh striking flesh was heard.

"You are so evil, Miya." Uzume said tearily, clutching her head which sported a funny looking bump.

"Fu, fu, fu." Miya hid her mouth with her hand.

Seeing that, Naruto decided against retorting and just stood up, pushing away Ena gently while doing so. And just when he had done so, he heard a sound.

*Buzz* *Buzz*

"Well, hello my little birds! What a fine day it is and…"

*Zzzip*

*Crack* *Dhooosssh*

"Waaah! Nii-san, you just destroyed the TV!" little Uzume exclaimed distraughtly, clearly not happy with getting her favorite machine passing time getting destroyed. "And it was an over 50 inch, UHD one! How evil you can be!" she began to childishly beat his chest. Meanwhile, Naruto had a surprised expression on his face as he brought down the lightly smoking hand down by his side.

'What the hell just happened?' he asked silently to himself in shock. Looking towards Miya, he saw that she was mirroring his expression. He had never felt her getting this tense before. The aura was so intense, and it sky rocketed so high in span of milliseconds; for a moment, he thought an enemy was here, the reason he had fired that lightning bullet.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

The high pitched sound his mobile phone ringing in his pocket broke the tense silence that had permeated the room. Taking the aforementioned device out from his pocket, he looked at the caller ID to see nothing, not even the set of numbers that usually showed when the incoming call was from unknown person.

Accepting the call, "Hello!" he tentatively said.

"Oh hello my dear Subject Meteor, or should I say Naruto as I heard you go by these days. It was quite rude of you to cut our connection like that, but on this joyous occasion, I will let that slide away…"

*Beep*

Naruto ended the call.

"Who was that?" Ena asked. But before Naruto could answer, his phone began to ring again. It was from the same person.

And the same voice came, "Now, I think I have figured it out, Naruto-kun. Last time I saw you, your physical structure was similar to a fully grown man, but due to some reason, it seems your body had shrinked or de-aged to be clear. And since you are in the teenage right now, you are displaying characteristics similar to them. Rude, rebellious…"

"You know, you talk too much, mister." Ena said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"… Eh! Who am I talking to? And where is Naruto-kun?"

"This is Ena Seishuuin you are talking to, the future wife of Naruto-san." Ena happily said.

"The fuck!" the strangled voice of the only male present in the room colorfully exclaimed. Naruto gaped wide eyed at Ena. 'The hell did she just say!' he thought with incredulous expression in his face.

He would have probably cursed more if it wasn't for a very dark presence of soul crushing power that made itself known in his near vicinity. Gulping loudly, he rotated his head in a manner vaguely reminiscent of those little toys which moves in stuttering motion to look at the 'demon', and promptly wished he had never looked.

A demon from hell, that 'thing'… whatever it was, shrouded in the deep purple fire of damnation, could only be described as such. From its face, black tar of burned souls dripped regular from it, charring the floor beneath it. And the air, filled with the smell of brimstone and sulphur, suddenly felt very heavy, almost viscous. It was becoming difficult to breathe in.

'And why the hell are those blasted eyes bleeding?' he cried silently.

"So this is what you have been doing in my absence, huh!" Its guttural voice promised pain and sufferings. "Now repent for your crimes!" It gave a war cry.

As for Naruto, even though he believed that he was innocent, could not help but stand motionless in front of the rampaging demon from hell. Though his soul was clean and free of any blemish, in front of this abomination, he could do nothing to prove that.

Or that was what he thought, until…

"Please, stand back Miya-san." Ena stood straight with Ame-no-Murakumo trained masterfully at the very surprised looking Miya.

"Wha… what!" Miya eloquently spoke. 'Did she just… point her sword at me?' she thought, shell-shocked with the action of brunette.

As the number one of last remnant of her race, she was used to the extreme amount of respect she got from everyone. She was considered peerless amongst her people. No one, not even Naruto had ever stood up to her like this. Though Naruto had raw power in abundance, Miya's finesse and elegant skills used to give her the upper hand.

Well may be that might not be true anymore from what she had witnessed, but the case remained that no one had stood up to her, even less trained a sword against her. It was declaration of duel.

And with someone like her, whose sense of pride far outstripped many others, turning it down was not in the equation. So, with her pride suddenly in question, she too brandished her sheathed sword with flourish and trained it at Ena.

"Do you even know what can be the consequences of this, little girl?" her cold voice asked.

Ena was quick to response, "Ena doesn't care of any consequences when she has to guard Naruto-san from any harm."

Scoffing at that remark, Miya was about to go into her initial stance when suddenly, her sword and Ena's sword both flew into the air, and they suddenly had their head struck against each other. And that killed the oppressive feeling in their vicinity.

"Oww!" Twin cries rang out at the same time as both Miya and Ena massaged the bruised spot in their respective heads in attempt to sooth the pain.

"What the hell was that with you two? Acting like bratty kids while swinging around sharp and pointy things carelessly," Naruto sharply reprimanded them like a school teacher would do to rowdy kids in his class.

"Gomennasai, Naruto-san! Ena thought Miya-san was attacking you, so Ena tried to defend you." Ena said with the similar teary expression little Uzume was holding few minutes ago. Even the action of clutching her head was similar.

"*sigh* no one was trying to attack me, Ena-chan. Miya was just joking," Naruto tried to explain it to her.

"Isn't that right Miya?" he then asked in stern voice, facing the purple head who was trying in vain to hide her bump on her head.

Seeing that all attention was upon her, Miya's shoulder drooped. "Yes, I was joking." She said in heavy tone. "And I am sorry too, Naruto-kun." She apologized.

Honestly, she was embarrassed with her action. Getting into a cat fight with a girl centuries younger than her, what was she thinking? The level of maturity she just showed was definitely out of character behavior from her. Though this surprised her, she had inkling to why this strange behavior from her must have come to pass.

'Stupid Naruto-kun! Upsetting my inner balance like that!' she thought with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Alright, now that everything looks clear, why don't we go and have that breakfast. I am starving." Naruto said with drool coming out from corner of his mouth. Just the thought of Miya's cooking was making his stomach do backflips and intricate somersaults. There was no food like food cooked by Miya after all. And to think that he was going to tuck in these heavenly foods in matter of minutes, he felt like crying.

Everyone agreed readily to that proposition and began to move towards the dining room. And as everyone left the room, no one noticed a slab like device glowing in the corner of the room.

"…Hello, hello… anyone there. Hello… This is the Head of MBI speaking… hello… *sigh* Number 01 is probably spreading lies about me…"

***Scene Break***

**Somewhere in China**

A young boy, who looked like he hasn't yet touched the teenage, ran swiftly upon the jagged, rocky surface of the mountain he was climbing. His medium length, silk like dark straight hair tinted with purple stuck to his forehead because of sweat as he had started to grunt with each further step he took. The exhaustion was caching up to him.

But it was not a major concern of his as knew he was about to reach his destination. Seeing the final obstacle, his deep black eyes became incredibly focused as he pushed every bit of power into his legs and jumped for the last time.

Landing with an almost silent thud, he showed no signs of exertion as he respectfully bowed down low in front of a figure and said in an even tone, "Master, I come with news that may interest you."

"News that will interest me?" the master sounded incredulous.

"Yes, master." The disciple said without any hesitance. He was afraid that he may disappoint his master, but at this moment, he was sure that it will not be the case.

"Let's hear it then." His master commanded.

"The Campione of Britain had been defeated in straight battle." The boy announced. And before his master could say anything to reprimand him, he added, "… by a human."

And as the disciple saw those beautiful green eyes widen slightly, his chest swelled in pride. Because it was the confirmation he seeked that he had not disappointed her.

**A/N: So how was it? Read &amp; review.**

**Till next time then. Bye! **


	7. A Night of Revelations

**A/N: Hey guys! Long time no see. It seems I have underestimated how much work load a college can put on us hopeful researchers, leaving no time for things like writing hobbies, sigh. Anyway, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything proprietary.**

**Chapter 7 – A Night of Revelations **

**Main Conference Hall, History Compilation Committee**

"So tell me Amakasu, how did the defeat of the Black Prince, the Campione of Britain take place?"

A simple and a rather straightforward question, yet it made the said man swear bullets. He found himself stumbling in his thoughts as he tried to formulate an appropriate answer. Which was easier said than done while trying to not accidentally gaze upon the godly being sitting in front of him. Because, if he was to believe the terrifying tales surrounding her, then laying his 'unworthy gaze' upon her divine presence without her consent will result in his swift and immediate demise.

"I… I am not sure of that myself, my liege." He tried to insert, no pump as much respect as possible into his each and every words. Without even seeing, he could tell that her powerful gaze was trying to find out any hint of lies and deceit. He felt like he was unwrapped, piece by piece, for the world to see his soul. He shivered.

"I see… and what about this mortal who wielded the power to not only subdue, but also completely crush a Campione? What can you tell me about him?"

"Forgive me, my liege." Amakasu apologized as he humbly continued, "I cannot answer this question. For my knowledge on him is as good as yours on this matter." He could immediately feel the rise of her ire.

"This is absurd. Was I fed lies, when people described Japanese as hardworking peoples?"

Amakasu chose to remain silent, believing the question to be rhetorical.

"Then why is it that I have seen nothing more than incompetence from the people of this district."

Amakasu cringed at the mocking tone the Supreme Ruler of Martial Realm had decided to use. Although the words contained no hint of anger, the barely hidden slight at their work ethics made him flinch.

"A mere human, a mere human had managed to defeat a God Slayer in your own district, and you say you know nothing about him."

Amakasu, once again winced visibly at the words of jeer directed at him, and all Japanese in general. Furthermore, the continuous ignorance on the part of the Chinese Campione to regard his country as nothing more than a district showed how little she thought of them. But before he could say anything to save the faces of the committee, Luo Hao stood up from her temporary throne with a look of disappointment reflecting upon her dark jade green eyes.

"I have grown tired from being surrounded by these inept people. Lu, we are leaving."

And just like that, Amakasu felt the divine presence of Luo Hao, the Ruler of the Martial Realm disappear along with her student.

Xxx

**With Naruto**

Back in the Maison Izumo, breakfast had done wonders to lift the moods of everyone present in there. It would seem that Miya was still the excellent cook she was. And Naruto was particularly very giddy about this fact. He could still remember the good old days when Miya was very poor in doing anything related to household works. In those days, her 'creations' tasted horrible than the most horrible hospital food. Fortunately for him, she was a fast learner.

Anyway, after the breakfast, the girls had decided to properly setup the house, make it more livable as they had said. They thought it was too Spartan to begin with for their tastes. Deciding to leave the fair maidens on their own, Naruto had gone back to his cabin, and then, rushed back to his work place. After all, he owed an explanation to Uzume's caretaker for the stunt she had pulled. And there was something else too.

**Flashback**

"So… you are saying, some old friend of your came and casually picked up Uzume for what is basically a late night stroll."

"Yeah, you could put it that way I guess." Naruto replied to his boss.

"What a weird friend you have got there." He heard his boss, Akahana speculating.

"Anyway, what do you need more money for?" she asked.

"I accidently broke what Uzume considers the holiest thing in the world, and now she is throwing a huge tantrum. If I don't buy her a new one, I will not be able to hear the end of it." Naruto explained.

"Oh… but don't you already have one in your place?"

"Nah… Why do you think she kept coming to your place for sleeping?"

"That little devil! And all this time I was thinking she liked to stay here."

Laughter escaped Naruto's mouth when he heard her plight.

"So, can you lend me some? I promise I will pay you back later."

"Well…" Akahana trailed off as she gained a mischievous look on her face. "I can think of few favors you can do for me, for which, I am willing you to pay you more." She winked.

Naruto immediately responded back. "No!" he exclaimed while shaking his head from side-to-side, "No strange favors. I will pay you back in good old-fashion."

"Spoilsport!" the older one of them pouted. "I was just about to ask you for see Misaki in her date tomorrow."

"Eh… say what?"

"Are you this slow? I asked you to…

"I heard that!" Naruto cut her off. "But why the heck would I want to go in a date with someone who I consider a sister?" he asked with a ticked expression.

"Tch… Don't jump to conclusions, you idiot! I never asked you to go with her." Akahana rubbed her temple. "I just want you to follow her without being seen. I am feeling a little bit apprehensive with what that fool from her class will try on my little flower."

"Oh…" Naruto gained a sheepish expression on his face while he scratched the back of his face.

"So… Will you do it?" Akahana asked.

"No," Naruto firmly shook his head. "I understand that you are worried about her, but there is also the fact that I don't want to invade her privacy like that. I don't think she will like that."

The black haired mother of a teenage girl sighed. "Tsk… I should have guessed that you will say something like that." Then pulling out her drawer, she grabbed some money and handed it to Naruto. "Anyway, here, take it. But remember, double shift until next week." She sternly said.

"Thank you!" Naruto gratefully said, grabbing hold of them and putting them in his pocket. They were more than enough for a decent TV set, he guessed.

"No need for that." She waved off his thanks away. "Like I said, you will be working double shift until next week. So, I am not doing you any favor here."

**Flashback End**

So with the little money he got, he had bought a decent TV set and went back to Maison Izumo, hoping it was good enough. But the moment the little devil named Uzume had set her eyes on it, she had immediately begun to complain about the TV not being as high-tech as Miya's was. A quick and not so thinly veiled threat of returning the television back to shop later, Uzume seemed content when he last saw her. The rest of the day went past in a blur. And right now, it was night time and the grand city of Tokyo, looked livelier than ever.

Running at the edge of some hotel, Naruto looked at the very fast approaching tall skyscraper in front of him. With barely any audible noise coming from him, he leaped across and stuck soundlessly on the thick bulletproof glass wall of the said building with careful application of chakra through his feet. And though the glass surface was shiny like that of a mirror, his figure wrapped in light absorbing black was barely noticeable in the reflection, giving away no hint of his position.

Then without any prior notice, his figure blurred as he streaked towards the roof in unnatural speed. Jumping a bit higher than the height of the roof itself, he somersaulted through the air once and gracefully landed on the rail at the edge of the roof.

"Wow, you are exactly on time." A jovial and childish voice of a girl rang out.

Cerulean blue eyes narrowed a little as they tried to pry away the darkness of shadow in which, a figure of a woman could be seen.

"Alright, who are you? And why did you call me here?" he asked.

Xxx

**With Luo Hao**

"Master," Lu Yinghua, the disciple of Luo Hao called. "The day had already past, yet the mortal we seek is as close as he was this morning."

Upon hearing the plight of her student, the grand ruler of Martial Realm directed an unperturbed look towards him and spoke in a confident voice, "Then we will do nothing but search him with more vigor."

Her disciple nodded almost automatically in understanding. After all, he had already known how his charismatic master would reply.

"Master," he then asked. "I have been curious. What do you intend to do when you find him?"

"We will spar."

"Spar?" Lu voiced out in a confused tone.

"Yes," Luo Hao said. "A fight will surely result on his death. So a spar is all there will be."

"But what is the purpose of this spar?"

Luo Hao gained a thoughtful expression on hearing that. "I intend to find out how a mortal can be this powerful to defeat a God Slayer." She said.

"Then let me, master. A mere plebian like him doesn't deserve to be graced by your grand prowess."

"Although I am appeased by your devotion, I shall remind you that a mere mortal he maybe, yet he had defeated the British Campione, defeated a God Slayer, a being regarded as untouchable by mere mortals. So, to not only defeat him, but to absolutely crush him, he must surely is someone out of your league, Lu."

Lu, the disciple of Chinese Campione then bowed obediently. "Then I have no choice but to resign to your judgment on this, master."

Xxx

**Back with Naruto**

"Alright, who are you? And why did you call me here?" Naruto asked in a neutral tone as he looked at the redheaded young woman. Although it was dark, and her figure was shrouded in shadows, his unnaturally sharp eyes could easily discern her features.

The young voluptuous woman, who looked like she had just completed the second decade of her life, was garbed in large for her white lab coat. As she came closer to him, he could see her eyes of same color as her hair, dancing mischievously behind red-rimmed glasses. Grinning widely, she put her hands up in the air briefly to show that she meant him no harm.

To Naruto, for some odd reason, her entire demeanor struck to him as that of a child who had just gotten his hand on his favorite toy.

"I am Number 02, Matsu. A brain type Sekirei."

"Oh, Ok…" Naruto trailed of uncertainly. 'What kind of introduction is that?' he thought. He looked at the beaming girl in front of him with slight wary. There were too many unknown variables surrounding her. He was not comfortable with it.

Meanwhile, the girl who had introduced herself as Matsu was looking at him like he was some kind of wonder. "Wow, I never thought Number 01 was capable of getting an Ashikabi. Yet here you are, standing before me. Some sort miracle you are, aren't you?" The redhead gushed.

The black clad blonde fidgeted awkwardly under the intense stare of the red eyed girl. It unnerved him. "Umm… I'm sorry but I don't know what you're talking about miss."

Hearing that, Matsu blinked few times. Then she slipped out her tongue in a childish manner and laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry," she apologized. "I forgot this is the reason why I called you here actually. To explain everything about us, the Sekirei," she rambled in an excited tone.

"You see, it was actually the duty of Miya to tell you everything, but she acts strangely around you. And Minaka was being his idiot self again, so I have had to block his attempts to contact you again. So yeah, I guess I will be the one to explain things." She smiled brightly.

"Wait a minute. You know Miya?" Naruto asked, his neutral persona bleeding away to give its way to that of surprise.

"Yes of course. She is our leader. You could even say she is my big sister in a way, with both of us being a Sekirei."

'So she is someone who knows more about Miya. And from what she just said, I would guess that this Sekirei thing must some sort of group with Miya as their leader.' Naruto mused. Even though he and the purple headed beauty were extremely close, she was very tightlipped when he used to ask him about her work.

"So this Sekirei thing, is it some sort of group? And if it is, what kind of group is it?" He asked.

"Close, but not quite right." Matsu corrected. "Because you see, the Sekirei are not just a group, but a different race of species altogether from another planet."

It took a moment for Naruto to register what she had just said. "Wait what?!" Naruto's eyes got wide as saucer, his jaw hanging behind his mask. "You mean Miya is an alien!"

"Yes," Matsu nodded. "We don't originate from the planet earth. So we are aliens."

"I don't believe it. You are pulling my legs, aren't you?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"Why would I do that? I have no reason to do so." Matsu shrugged nonchalantly.

"Then prove it!" Naruto challenged.

Matsu eyed him as though he was an idiot. "If you are expecting me to bleed green or blue, or suddenly sprout tentacles, then will be disappointed. But yes, I can do this for you." She stuck out her tongue at him. "Wook, wook, I am am aliem." She tried to act spooky with her hand moving in a tentacle like motion.

Now, it was Naruto's time to eye her like she was an idiot. "Was that supposed to be funny?" he asked in a flat voice.

"Look," Matsu said while removing her glass, getting serious. All of a sudden, that simple action resulted in few drastic changes that caused Naruto's eyes to widen once again. Where there was a childish young woman a few seconds ago in front of him, now she was replaced by this sensuous, beautiful, mature looking woman. How a simple action of removing a simple glass could do this, he would never understand.

"It doesn't matter whether you believe me or not, Naruto-kun." Even her voice, it had lost high pitch and chirpy tone it contained a while ago. "But the fact remains that we the Sekirei are extraterrestrials to this planet, and Miya is our leader. So by getting involved with her, or in this case, by her getting involved in your life, you are now a part of us. So believe me when I say this again, I have no reason to joke around in this matter."

Across her, Naruto eyed her with high scrutiny. While he had not sensed any lies in her statements, he was still having some trouble digesting this entire we-are-alien thing getting thrown to his face without any prior warning. But one thing was for sure, despite how farfetched her claims seemed to look like, it was all appallingly true. He sighed heavily.

'What do you think of this?' he asked the one he trusted most.

'She is hiding something. I can tell that what she says holds no lies in them. But bear in mind, they are nothing but half statements.' Kurama gave his two cents.

'Half statements? What do you mean by that?'

'That she is purposefully leaving out full information from her statements. By the way she is speaking; I think she wants your full cooperation before she divulges everything.'

'Shall I then? And also, does this mean that you also support her story?'

'Do what you want. But I say give her the benefit of doubt. And as for whether I support her or not, let me ask you something first. Isn't our story similar to her?'

'Hmm… I guess there is no problem in doing that. Anyway, thanks Kurama.'

'Anytime Naruto. Now I suggest you to focus back onto that redheaded vixen. She is fidgeting under your silence.' Saying this, Kurama went back to deep recesses of Naruto's sub consciousness.

"Alright then, what is it that you want from me? I don't think you have called me here to just to tell me that you guys are alien." Naruto said, breaking the thick silence that had blanketed them while he was communicating with the spirit of nine tailed fox.

Matsu nodded seriously.

"So what is it?" he asked.

"I came here with a request, Naruto-kun. But first, let me tell you a bit more about Sekirei, beside the now obvious fact that we are extraterrestrials." Matsu began. Then looking at Naruto standing on the railing, she furrowed her brows, "Err… Are you comfortable standing up there by the way? This is going to be a long story."

"I am fine," Naruto waved off her concern. "You continue with what you have to say."

"OK then, you see, we Sekirei are super-powered beings with genetic similar to that of a human being. A millennium ago, our spaceship crashed onto the island now known as Kamikura. Onboard the spaceship was 108 life forms: 1 Pillar and 107 baby birds. The first of them, the pillar, was a fully grown adult, and was not a Sekirei. Eight were embryos. And the later 99 were fertilized eggs. You with me till now?"

Naruto nodded and prompted her to continue.

"Now, if left alone, these Sekirei would have grown naturally in the care of the pillar and gone to live their lives normally. They would have gone to explore the new world, found a suitable mate for themselves and integrated new sets of DNA in the gene pool to increase the number of potential Ashikabi for Sekirei that may come in future. And due to their similar physiology with human beings, it would have gone without a hitch."

"But it didn't." Naruto remarked.

"Yes it didn't." Matsu nodded solemnly. "Humans were too curious, too greedy for their own good. They found us, they took our technology, benefited greatly from us, and in return, experimented on us instead of thanking us." She finished bitterly, her hands balled into fists.

"So, you hate humans?"

There was pregnant pause as Matsu remained silent. Then she shook her head. "No, I don't." She said in disdain. "For without them, we can't survive this harsh world: It also being the only reason why Miya hesitates from annihilating them."

With a look of forlorn hope shining in her eyes, she spoke, "You see Naruto-kun, this world has changed greatly in last thousand years. When the previous generation of Sekirei came here, they never had to go through this. All this hardships, it was all unexpected. And it has taken a toll on our Pillar. Miya has stretched herself too thin over the course of many years to ensure our survival. I thought it was only a matter of time before she will break."

"But then, you happened." She looked at Naruto lovingly. "You came like a ray of light in the darkness our world was plunging in. You saved her from her despair, gave her hope. And suddenly, she was stronger than before. Her attention was once again stretched more than it could handle. But despite this, her will was stronger. She had once again become what these humans called, humane. A necessary for a pillar to have."

"Then let me ask you a question." Naruto softly began, a question suddenly arising in his mind when she told him about her leader. "If I was so important in her life, why did she leave me 6 years ago?" he asked, no demanded the answer. This question, which gnawed at him like a garden gnome for several years, was eating him from inside out.

Matsu looked sadly at him, "That unfortunately, I cannot answer Naruto-kun. It is not my place to do so. I'm sorry."

"Never mind," Naruto quickly said, disappointed by her answer. Sighing heavily, he then asked, "These Ashikabis you speak of, I believe they are the mates of Sekirei, right?"

Seeing Matsu nod in affirmation, he asked again, "Am I… am I one of them?"

This time, Matsu shook her head in no. "It is not possible for you to be an Ashikabi, Naruto-kun. To become an Ashikabi, you must have some Sekirei DNA to react with us in your body. And to have that, you must be a descendent of a Sekirei who mated with a human in past."

"But then… but then from the way you talked about it, it seemed like an Ashikabi is the ultimate goal of a Sekirei."

"They are." Matsu confided with conviction.

"The why is Miya interested in me? You said Miya is… well… you know…" Suddenly, despite the seriousness the situation demanded, Naruto flushed. He felt extremely embarrassed upon thinking that Miya may be harboring those kinds of feelings for him.

Matsu giggled understanding his situation. "Stupid," she playfully chided him. "Didn't you properly hear what I said? Miya is a Pillar. Not a normal Sekirei. She doesn't react like us to Ashikabis. Normally, a Sekirei reacts physically with her potential Ashikabi, her best possible match by exchanging bodily fluids, which is normally done by kissing."

"W-what?!" Naruto flushed even more beneath his mask. Suddenly, the images of him and Miya kissing sensually began to fill his mind.

"Now get your mind out of the gutter," Matsu teased, knowing exactly what he was thinking, "Because unfortunately for you, Miya's system doesn't work like that. Instead, she resembles human beings on that aspect."

"Oh," was all Naruto said.

"Why are you so down? Be happy for her. At least she has the choice to leave if her partner is a bum. Unlike us who will get stuck with that one particular person for life if the bond forms once, with no option to leave the bastard if we don't like him later."

"No, no, no!" Naruto waved his hand in flustered motion. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just…" he then blushed again.

"Aww, you are too cute, and too easy, Naru-tan. I wish I had an Ashikabi like you." Matsu had once again reverted back to her childish persona, with her glass residing on her face.

"Hey, how did you do that?" Naruto asked curiously, referring to her persona switch.

"What? This?" Matsu asked and demonstrated the switching between her childish and mature persona by taking on and off her glasses, eventually settling back on mature one.

"Yes," Naruto nodded. "I have never seen something like that."

Matsu snorted. "To know about this, you must know about the number system of Sekirei. All the Sekirei are categorized by their strength and a number is given to each Sekirei to signify their place: The number 01 being the strongest and number 108 being theoretically the weakest. Here, single digits are considered to be the far stronger than double ones, with Miya at the top of the food chain."

"I remember now. You are then the second strongest, isn't it? You said you are number 02."

"Nope," Matsu simply denied. "I am not second strongest. That honor goes to Number 04, Karasuba. Crazy bitch she is."

"Eh… but you just said numbers are given according to your strength."

"And define strength, Naruto-kun."

"Huh… strength?" Naruto asked in bewilderment.

"Yes, what do you think comprises strength?" Matsu enquired him sternly.

"Err… power to protect and a good mind to use that power," Naruto answered confidently.

Matsu looked pleased. "Yes, it is indeed those that comprise the strength of a person. Now remember what I said alongside my number."

"Err… you said…" Naruto racked his brain to remember what she had said. "… umm… I got it! Brain type! You are the Sekirei who uses mind as her power, isn't it?"

"Exactly, my mind is my ultimate weapon. It can unravel any mysteries, any equations and any problems as long as it is related to technology. In the field of technology, I can hack anything in lightning quick speed. And in this age of computers, I can be the most dangerous foe anyone can have."

"Amazing," Naruto whistled.

Then Matsu's smiled bitter sweetly. "And Minaka was aware of this fact. He knew that while rests of the Sekireis are powerful physically, I was the one who could pose as the most dangerous one." Her fist balled once again, her eyes clenched shut. "So he created this instrument, this glass. He synchronized it to my brainwaves, made it so that all my intelligence would be blocked, so that whenever I put this on, my personality regresses back into that of a horny teenage girl, and with this much hormones raging in my body, all I could think of was something erotic, rendering me harmless."

*Crack*

She broke the glass in her hand, with rebellious look on her face. "But now, I am free. I am free from the wretched bonds of MBI. And I refuse to be their puppet anymore." She declared.

Naruto swiftly jumped down from the railing, removing his mask as he did so. Coming close to her, he rubbed her back in assurance to placate her. 'God, she is a mess. Her emotions are all over the place.' He thought.

"There, there, don't worry about it now. After everything you have told me, I have understood what you wanted to request from me. You want me to protect the Sekireis from MBI, isn't it?"

Looking at the uncovered face of the person of Miya's fascination, Matsu smiled wistfully. "I can see why Miya is so infatuated with you, Naruto-kun. Like I said before, you truly are a miracle. Not to mention cute too." She giggled softly at the look of embarrassment Naruto wore when she said that.

Then morphing her face into seriousness, she gravely spoke, "But it is not from MBI I want you to protect the Sekirei from, Naruto-kun. No matter how much of nuisance they are, they are still bound by their own limitations. With some trouble, they can be easily dealt by us."

Naruto's eyebrows shot up at that declaration. "Then who do you want me to protect you guys from?" he asked in confusion.

"A far greater threat than MBI, Naruto-kun. The Campiones!"

**At Maison Izumo**

Miya was sitting on the porch of her new house with her sheathed sword resting on her lap, silently watching Ena practicing with her own sword under the moonlight. She sighed. It was clear from moment the raven haired girl had started that despite her young age; she was prodigious in the art of blade. Not that she was perfect with it, but she was very good. She was extremely agile and her movements were barely wasted. While she lacked the power behind her swings –because of her age, she more than made it up with the raw talent she had in spades.

Her hands twitched. They were eager to test how that little girl would fare against her. But she resisted the temptation. As much as she hated to admit it, it was clear that the teenage girl was someone Naruto had begun to care for. What kind of care it was? She could only guess.

'It better not be of that type.' She murderously thought. And unbeknownst to her, a dark purple miasma began to surround her figure, charged with chaotic smell of blood.

"Miya-san," Ena had abruptly stopped when she felt a sense of discomfort wafting off Miya due to her Hime-Miko nature. "Is something wrong?"

Miya quickly adopted a mask of serenity. "Ara, what are you talking about Ena-kun. What might be wrong?" She added a little hidden insult by addressing her as a boy.

Ena furrowed her brows. She was sure she had sensed something. Then shrugging her shoulders, she went back to her practice. It was nighttime already, but she wanted to work the kinks out of her system. The high voltage the Black Prince had subjected to her had really messed up her. And she was determined to get back to normal before midnight. So with renewed vigor, she began to swing Ame-no-Murakumo.

Meanwhile, Miya had become bored by this. Standing up, she was about to go to her bed when a sudden coarse feeling hit her senses. Eyes widened, she snapped towards the northeast where she knew Naruto had gone too.

She may have only experienced this sensation once, but she knew what it was. There was no denying the fact, this twisted power, the power of grand victory laced with the taint of theft. The power to slay the gods…

"Campione," Ena called out in worry. "A Campione is here."

**With Naruto**

"How do you know about them?" Naruto asked in mild shock.

Matsu snorted. "Who doesn't know about the revered Devil Kings? Everyone concerned with power know about them. Especially for MBI to not know about them would be a thing of joke. I mean, these Campiones are the reason Minaka has scrapped the plan to hold that stupid Sekirei game of his."

"Game?"

"Yes," Matsu spat in disgust. "He wanted to hold a battle royale of some sorts between all the Sekireis. He wanted to play with the sacred bond of Sekirei and Ashikabi and take perverse pleasure out of it. But when he came to know about these God-Slayers, he stopped. He knew these Devil Kings will never accept us. They will want us gone. And he didn't want his subjects to get massacred."

Hearing this, Naruto seethed. 'Is there no ending to their hypocrisy?' he thought furiously. Honestly, the more he heard about these God Slayers, the more he found them repulsive, disgusting even. And to top it all, his encounter with one of them had left a rather bad taste in his mouth.

He was about to voice his displeasure when all of a sudden, his body went stiff in shock. His instinct violently yelled at him as he grabbed hold of Matsu and jumped away, just a moment before a human missile punched a massive hole right through the roof, the place he was standing moments ago. Landing on the roof of the opposite building, Naruto watched as a figure came out of the dust and smoke.

"Wow, good reflexes." A jovial voice called out. Out from the billowing concrete dust came the figure of man dressed in casual Hawaiian shirt and loose denim pants. Blonde hair of slightly lighter shade than Naruto's flowed freely while his playful sapphire blue eyes locked itself with cerulean blues of Naruto.

"Hello there, boyo," the man greeted grinning widely. "Salvatore Doni at your service," and bowed extravagantly.

**A/N: If you have any enquiries concerning the chapter, then you can PM me. And read and review. It motivates me a lot.**

**Until next time then, bye!**


	8. Demon & Dragon

**A/N: Hello everyone! Before you continue, I'll like clarify something.**

**It's about the Authorities. Well, I honestly don't know whether you need to recite the aria to activate them or not. However, in the anime, Salvatore Doni acted his 'Ripping Arm of Silver' without chanting. I guess, it means when you master the Authorities enough, you can completely bypass the need to intone it. And I think that makes sense actually. I mean, you don't want to be caught reciting a poem in the heat of battle where every second, do you?**

**So I have done just that. Older Campiones and Gods will not recite the arias. But to avoid the confusion, I will portray it so that it will look like they are chanting it in their mind.**

**There's one more thing i.e. Just remember what I've said in the ending author note of Chapter 2. Now without further ado – Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything legal.**

**Chapter 8 – Demon &amp; Dragon **

"Alright, just for the record. This wasn't planned, was it? A setup, for me to get captured by him," Naruto asked in suspicion. "And be honest. I'll know if you lie."

The red-headed young woman in his arms gaped at the accusation. "Of course it wasn't!" she cried indignantly.

Cerulean blue eyes probed searchingly at her – and found no deceit.

"Just asking," Naruto remarked offhandedly.

Truth to be told, he was still a bit skeptical about all she had said. He had taken everything she had told him with a pinch grain of salt – for now that is. It wasn't that it was hard to believe her. In spite of how farfetched her story may seem like, it was entirely plausible in his opinion.

However, there were also other things to take into consideration; like who says she hadn't sugarcoated this all up just to garner his sympathy. Everyone believes that that they were the one victimized and ultimately the wronged one in a scuffle; no matter how big or small it is.

He couldn't just put a verdict on it after hearing only one side of the story. To understand it clearly, to get the bigger picture of the situation, he had to first confirm this all with a most reliable source he could think of – Miya.

After all, for all she had said and bared, Matsu was a stranger, unlike Miya. And there one thing that Kurama had ingrained into his mind – Don't trust a stranger.

He violently lurched to his left as he dodged the human bullet that was Salvatore Doni; who was careening towards him with his fist cocked. It seems, in his moment of contemplation, he had nearly forgotten that a crazy lunatic was trying his best to catch him.

"What's going on?" he heard Matsu ask frantically.

"Someone just getting more zealous in his pursuit," He replied; warily watching the man crash violently against the opposite skyscraper, destroying its wall for a good measure. "But don't worry; I will not let him harm you." He then spoke in a reassuring voice to placate her.

"Oh… ok." Matsu stammered, hiding her gaze away. That was odd, she thought. Trying to hide her flushed face, she glanced at the lines of blur traversing around her. Blur: It was all she had seen for past several minutes with how fast her carrier was moving. Or was it hour? She didn't know; and frankly, didn't care.

All that mattered was how protected and safe she felt in his arms.

'This is ridiculous!' she then screamed in her mind. 'What the hell is this?' she questioned her sanity. A goddamn Campione was hot on their tails with less than savory intentions; and she couldn't feel a slightest of worry coursing through her. Not even a single racing pulse.

Even her Tama: the source of her energy was surprisingly calm and relaxed in spite of the situation they were in. It felt like… it almost felt like she was with her Ashikabi. How was this possible?

'Grr… Miya! You lucky bitch!' She grumbled sourly.

Meanwhile, unlike Matsu, Naruto's mind was anything but calm. He held back a curse as he once again dodged the human bullet heading their way by jumping high up into the air. The moment he landed, he began to do a series of leaps and jumps as he headed towards the general direction of the nearest sea shore. The blonde Campione behind was such a carefree moron, he was laying a trail of destruction behind him as he tried to catch them. So the quicker Naruto led him away to a more vacated place, the better.

It didn't take long for him to arrive to the place he had in his mind. The smell of salt water and sound of crashing water assaulted him as he was greeted by the sight of long stretch of sands in front of him. With an almost silent thump, Naruto landed on the soft sands of the seashore; unlike the Italian Campione who kicked up a waterfall of granular sands when he unceremoniously landed.

Seeing this, Naruto smirked.

There was one more reason for coming here other than avoiding the general public.

Abruptly, the curtain of sands around the Campione of Italy stopped their descent and suspended weightlessly in air as gravity relinquished its hold on it. Then in moment of another abruptness, they began to swirl around the befuddled Campione like a raging tornado before they all clamped down on him – hard.

But strangely, despite the situation he was in, the Campione of Italy began to guffaw, surprising Naruto greatly.

"Wow – This is amazing!" Salvatore tried to look at the coffin of sand covering him up to his neck. Not succeeding though, as the sand constricted him, he then looked at the masked golden haired teenage boy with an amused look on his face.

Meanwhile, Naruto was returning the gaze of the captive man with wary evident in his visage. For some reason, this man, Salvatore Doni; he felt far more dangerous than the Campione of Britain had ever felt to him. The vibe he gave off; if he had to compare, he would say the Italian Campione felt more like a rabid mad dog in comparison to elitist and egoist that British Campione was; willing to viciously sunk his razor sharp canines and tear down his opponents in a moment's notice. Thus, he reckoned he would do well without a liability like her at his side.

"I don't see any reason for you to be in happy mood." Naruto impassively remarked.

Salvatore chortled at that; his sapphire blue orbs shining playfully. "Oh but there is." He said with a lopsided grin.

Naruto frowned at that. From what he could see, the man was in a distinct disadvantage; with him being captured in a coffin of sand and all. But the man showed no signs of anxiety. Rather he seemed quite carefree and lackadaisical, confident even. For a man to be like this; he was either supremely powerful, or an overconfident moron.

"Then pray tell me what it is?" Naruto candidly posed.

"You are interesting, boyo." The man flippantly said. "I will say this, you run good. Oh you run very, very well. Like a chicken with its head cut off. And now that you've shown me how you run, show me how you fight!" He looked absolutely gleeful at the last part.

Naruto cast an uneasy glance towards the captive man. Something about him rubbed just wrong with him. Not the chilling, sinister type of wrong, just something… wrong.

Casting it aside though, he evenly spoke, "It doesn't matter what I show now. You are already defeated."

"Ah, confident much, aren't you?"

"Very much," Naruto quipped. After all, of all the chakra nature transformations he could control, Magnet release was amongst the one that came easiest to him.

'_I hereby swear – I forbid the existence of things I cannot cut!'_

All he heard in response was the amused chuckle of Salvatore. Then suddenly, his instincts – honed from year of sweating and bleeding; roared loudly in alarm to get away.

A fine arc of blood sprayed in the air as Salvatore Doni, the Italian Campione broke… no waltzed through the coffin of sand without a barest hint of effort on his part and slashed at Naruto with his left hand, which glinted off divine aegis.

"W-what…" Naruto sputtered as he staggered back, clutching his profusely bleeding chest. Scrunching his face in pain, he ripped of his clothe mask and spat blood. He grimaced as a wave after wave of piercing pain rippled through the long diagonal gash.

'GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM, YOU FOOL!' Distantly, he heard Kurama scream at him.

And he did just as the nine-tailed fox ordered without any question. Fighting through the haze of debilitating agony, he tried to create some semblance of distance between him.

"How?" he quietly asked.

In answer; Salvatore Doni, the Campione of Italy raised his left arm for the world to see. "_Ripping Arm of Silver_," he proudly declared; showing off his arm made up of silver. "Nothing exists that this beauty cannot cut through." He purred lovingly as he caressed it.

"But you are full of surprises too, aren't you? Never saw someone healing this soon after getting flayed by this arm of mine." He commented in morbid fascination as he looked at the sizzling wound on Naruto which was rapidly closing up.

Naruto chose to not say anything as he gingerly tested the movement of his arms by rotating them. Their movement was getting hindered by the wound on his chest; but now that it was healed, they were fully functional again.

He briefly eyed the silver arm glinting with aegis aura in wary. He had to remain on guard. The wound inflicted by it was difficult to heal than normal wound. He could not afford get hit by it again.

"Aha, now that you have got your wits together; shall we dance?" Salvatore bowed theatrically with his one hand extended in front of him with a broad grin in his face.

'Beware Naruto! That man is not what he seems.' Kurama said in concerned tone.

Nodding mentally, Naruto settled into a loose battle stance. Extending his right in front of him, he moved his hand in _come hither_ motion.

The grin present on Salvatore face threatened to split his face. Both tensed up as the air began to get vibrate with the amount of energy that was coalescing in them; both ready to pounce upon each other at the moment's notice. Their eyes flashed with power.

But all of a sudden, Salvatore let go of the serious demeanor and struck a confused pose with his hand on his chin. "Hey! Wasn't there a pretty redhead chick with you?" he asked with his head tilted to his side in puzzlement.

Naruto gaped like a fish out of water. 'Is this guy for real?' He thought incredulously.

Then morphing his visage into a look of annoyance, he quipped, "She was."

He didn't deemed it necessary to make Salvatore aware of the fact that he had sent her away with a clone of his the moment they had arrived on this place.

Across him, the Campione of Italy put his hands up. "No need to bunch your panties in twist, boyo! I was just concerned that you might have accidentally dropped your girlfriend off while running."

Naruto grew a tick mark on his forehead. He could feel the headache coming.

"You know…" looking dead on into the sapphire pools full of mirth, he irately began. "… You talk too much!" in the next moment, he was in front of his adversary, covering the distance between them in a blink of an eye.

As soon as he got close to him, he threw a wild haymaker. Seeing it getting dodged, he followed up with a spinning back kick with his left leg, which got caught by Salvatore. But Naruto didn't stop the momentum and twisted his body and planted a solid heel with his free right foot on his opponent's face.

Salvatore staggered back, losing a bit of his composure. A shadow clone then burst into existence beneath him and swiped his legs away from the ground; rendering him airborne.

Another clone immediately followed this up with a pile-driver, launching him backwards; where the original Naruto was waiting for with a tennis ball sized blue spiraling sphere in his hand.

"_Rasengan!_" he thrusted his hand forward towards the helpless figure of Salvatore, and let the energy drill do its magic.

'_O blood of the evil dragon Fafnir – bestow upon me the fate of invulnerability.'_

The Rasengan drilled into the stomach of Salvatore for a moment and then exploded as it reached its critical mass, the force of which was enough to launch the Campione of Italy few hundreds meter back. Hurtling above the sea water like a ragdoll for a while, Salvatore sunk into the sea as the kinetic force wore off.

A pregnant pause descended. 'I don't think a simple Rasengan will keep him down.' Naruto mused in contemplation. And as if to prove him right, his hypersensitive ear began to pick up the sound of rumbling beneath his feet.

Hands burst from the ground and latched into his feet. They began to pull at him. Psyched out by this, Naruto quickly created a clone and made it pull at him. But instead of pulling him away; because of the loose hold of the porous sand, the clone pulled out Salvatore Doni along with Naruto away from the ground.

"Get the hell away from boss, you leech!" a clone Naruto had created ran towards them and speared at Salvatore, effectively getting him away from original.

They both went tumbling down the sandy ground and came to stop as they crashed into a rock that was randomly jutting out from the ground. Flashing a baleful grin, the clone winked.

"_Bunshin Daibakuha!_

_BOOM_!

Naruto shielded his face with his hands from the dust and dirt that came his way after his clone exploded in a massive explosion. His eyes narrowed into slits, he tried to look through the dust cloud. And when it finally settled…

'You got to be kidding me!' Naruto gaped.

With tattered clothes and smoking bleach blonde hair, stood grinning soot covered Salvatore with not a single damage on his actual body; besides the hair which looked like it was burned in some places. Even the place where the Rasengan had drilled looked unaffected.

'No, I kid you not,' Kurama remarked sarcastically.

'Oh shut up, furball!'

"My, oh my; you are a funny little trickster, aren't you?" Salvatore spoke with mirth in his voice. "I reckon this will be interesting after all. If I hadn't activated my _Man of Steel_ Authority; that light trick of yours might have done more than just tickle."

Salvatore grinned wider when he saw the look of contempt Naruto sent him. Standing straighter than before, he reached behind his back and caught the hilt of his sheathed sword. "Now, let's get for round two." He smirked.

And that was when both supernatural fighters suddenly snapped their head towards a distant pole light at the perimeter of the beach. A young woman of ethereal beauty – the divine beauty of otherworldly allure which could make lesser men die from happiness after just seeing it – was standing upon it with peerless elegance.

"Boy! Are you the one who defeated the Black Prince?" The Supreme Ruler of the Martial Realm asked in an authoritative voice; gracing them with her exquisite elegance as she stood between them.

'When did she get here?' 'Frightening as ever…' were the respective thoughts of Naruto and Salvatore.

"Madam Luo Hao!" Salvatore was the one to regain his composure first. "It's good to see that you are still full of virtue and…

"Be quiet, Lord Doni!" Luo Hao chastised the Campione of Italy in a manner similar to a teacher scolding her student. "I am not here to hear your senseless droll."

Salvatore donned the expression of a kicked puppy as he clutched his heart, feigning pain at her words.

Ignoring his theatrics, Luo Hao gazed at Naruto. She neither spoke, nor she gestured in any way; but it was clear as crystal – she wanted her answer and she was not going to ask him again.

Naruto was stiff in apprehension. Just one brief glance at this young looking woman was enough to get the message across. She was not the one to be trifled with. The wary glances Salvatore kept shooting at her hammered the nail further.

"I guess I am." Naruto grimaced at how lame it came out.

Luo Hao cast a half-lidded gaze at him; her face the expression of serenity. "You are weak." She bluntly remarked.

"…" Naruto kept quiet.

"Weaker than I had presumed. There is no command in your aura." Luo Hao continued from where she had left. Slowly, she took few steps closer towards him, as if to scrutinize him closely. "Yet you somehow defeated Black Prince." She mused out loud.

"That fool was a wimp." Naruto could not hold himself from insulting the git. His reference brought infuriating memories to forefront of his mind.

Luo Hao narrowed her eyes. "Watch your tongue, boy! I better not hear you slighting the revered _Devil Kings_ again." The air howled in fear, while the sea churned in anticipation.

Naruto's demeanor abruptly changed on hearing that. He snorted in contempt. "So you are like him and this blonde guy, huh. A presumptuous Campione!" he sneered. Seriously, he hated the _holier than thou_ attitude they had in spades. So much that he chose to ignore his rational mind, which was screaming at him to not antagonize her in any way.

By now, Luo Hao's eyes had narrowed down to slits. Her ire had risen. The air crackled sharply, making the hair behind Naruto's neck rise slightly. But she did well to hide it.

And that was the moment when Salvatore Doni decided he was ignored enough. "Madam Luo Hao," he smoothly interjected. "I can recognize that frightening predatory gleam of a dragon even in my sleep. But before you involve yourself, I suggest that you consider this – I was here first. Surely, a person of your stature wouldn't lower yourself by trying to fish away what is rightfully mine, would you?" He sincerely posed.

A looked of conflict flashed by Luo Hao's face. If one looked closely; they would have seen a barely perceivable twitch of her perfect, aristocratically arched eyebrow. But soon, it all melted into a mask of indifference as before.

"I see you have grasped the fine art of conversing, Lord Doni." She said in an even voice; which seemed a little forced.

Salvatore sheepishly offered a grin.

"Then it's decided," Luo Hao relented, albeit unwillingly. "Lord Doni! You will have two minutes. I believe that will be sufficient, no?"

'Ah, couldn't help herself, could she?' Salvatore had a crooked knowing grin. Being a sore loser she was; she had resorted to mock his powers indirectly. What a hypocrite! Demands respects from everyone else; yet rarely gives in return. 'Well, this just means I'll have to wrap up this as soon as possible.' He shrugged.

"It will be indeed." He said in a grateful voice, nodding slightly. Inwardly he winced. He loathed this whole business of polishing someone's behind. But then again, this was Luo Hao they were talking about; debatably the most powerful of God Slayers. She had pride that was peerless, and demanded extreme respect from everyone around her as aforementioned. Failing to do so usually resulted in bad things.

Now, as Campione himself; he had all the rights to just show her middle finger and go on his merry way. But then, there was the fact that last time he did something remotely close to that; he had woken up in the middle of nowhere; beaten to the last inch of his body; and a whole week memory gap.

Quite later, he had found out that all he had managed to do was to mark her clothe with a bit of dirt. He shuddered at the thought of it.

"Well boyo, it seems we have to change our a little." Salvatore merrily spoke to Naruto; causing the said boy to tense up. "So come at me with everything you've… – And who might you be?" he gained a puzzled expression on seeing the new person that had suddenly blurred into his line of sight.

"Miya!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise on seeing the familiar figure of her in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

In response, he was engulfed in a bone-crushing hug by the purple headed Pillar of Sekirei. "When Ena told me a powerful Campione is fighting you, I got worried. I came as soon as I can." She frantically said. Breaking away from him, "You are not hurt anywhere, are you?" she asked worriedly.

Naruto shook his head no, at which, Miya sighed in relief.

"Oi lovebirds!-" Salvatore called out to them irately. "-Now I've only got a minute and half left. So can you just…

"Shut up!-" Miya glowered at the Campione of Italy. "-trash," she added for good measure.

Salvatore arched an eyebrow at the last part. "Alright, that was uncalled for. Why would you…

"Are you deaf?" Miya snapped, glaring daggers at him.

While Salvatore just scratched his head, a certain someone was peeved by this blatant disrespect of her kind.

Luo Hao looked down her nose at Miya. "Petulant child, you will not speak in that tone to a revered Devil King." She sternly stated in a haughty tone.

Miya regarded the Chinese woman with an incredulous expression her face. "Child!?" she laughed derisively. "Then what are you – old hag?" she jeeringly questioned.

"…"

"The fuck!" Salvatore's strained exclamation of surprise was ignored.

Meanwhile, Luo Hao's shoulder was quaking in smoldering anger; her flawless beautiful visage now marred by the expression of absolute fury. Never had she been insulted in such a way. She – the Supreme Ruler of Martial Realm; the one, who was blessed by the righteous virtue; the one, who had mastered the mythical Daoist arts.

Abruptly, the ground cracked beneath her by the weight of her power. The sea churned violently while the winds howled in fury.

Luo Hao's eyes flashed. "Did you just slight me, _impudent_ _child_?" she asked with a dangerous edge to her voice.

But Miya was not fazed even a little by her display of anger in slightest. She sneered. "Has old age reduced your hearing? Or is it a common trait shared by you glory hunters; as Trash-san was also having problems of hearing."

In spite of the serious situation they were in, Naruto snorted in amusement behind her. 'Man, I have missed this side of her.' He fondly reminisced. This was one of the coolest – unless you are on the receiving end of it – attributes of Miya in his opinion: The ability to insult left and right without even batting an eyelash. The way it riled up her adversaries, it was funny to watch.

Luo Hao gnashed her teeth. Despite her efforts, it was proving hard to keep her cool. She prided herself in being able to fully control her emotions. So to feel it slipping away this soon; it ought to be something she must have ate in this backward district.

"Do you pride yourself – find it appeasing – in the act of badmouthing me?" she cordially asked, feigning imperviousness to jeers.

"Pride?" Miya scrunched her nose. "Why would I pride myself for doing that? In fact, I think I should feel a little disgusted with me for doing it, you know. After all, it is not a good behavior on the part of young and beautiful woman like me to slander an old wrinkly hag like you, no? Pity – your ugliness squashed any sense of morals I have." And she said it all with an airy innocent voice.

A violent current of wind blasted towards her, trying to uplift her from the ground she stood. But it was nothing she couldn't handle. She stood steadfast. In front of her, a hurricane began to form whereupon Luo Hao stood. Her figure was shrouded in darkness, but her raging eyes could be seen piercing through the darkness in an attempt to bore holes through Miya.

"Enough!" Luo Hao's cold voice rang. The ground trembled in fear of her voice. Effortlessly, she began to levitate off the ground; once again showed why she was considered the master of Daoist Arts. Unaided flight was one of the most difficult and obscure techniques that were there to master. Yet, Luo Hao defied gravity with such ease; one could be fooled into thinking that she was born to fly. "I have had enough of your drama, petulant child. I have grown _sick _of it. I had tried to tolerate your juvenile babblings. But now I am fed up. Thus, for the crimes you have committed by insulting me, I will have your head – Along with your cohort's!"

The pupils of wine red eyes dilated balefully when the threat was delivered. Suddenly, a shockwave of energy erupted off Miya as dark purple miasma writhed around her; screaming for blood. The inordinate amount of bloodlust that had abruptly permeated the area; it was ghastly.

"You shouldn't have said that," she whispered in a sinister voice. With a distinct clicking sound, she quickly freed Totsuga-no-Tsurugi from her belt and grabbed its hilt. "You shouldn't have threatened my beloved." And she swung; the sword still sheathed in its scabbard.

Above in the air, Luo Hao narrowed her eyes as she saw her opponent grabbing what seemed like a sword. A disdainful look marred her face. 'She dare point me a sword at me. I will break that piece of scrap with one finger of mine.'

Then she saw the purple haired young woman swing her sheathed sword in her direction. 'What a pointless drab this is. What is the point of swinging her sword in empty…

'Wait a second.' She squint her eyes in focus. There was a faint distortion in the air, accompanied by the slight displacement of air. Then all of a sudden her eyes widened to her extreme as she haphazardly moved out of the way as something invisible passed by her.

Her heart was thundering loudly, drumming against her ribcage inside her chest as adrenaline flooded into her blood in a moment's notice. 'What was that?' she thought. It felt like some kind of invisible energy blade to her. That was when her eyes again widened to its extreme.

A lone droplet of blood, shining drearily in the moonlight; was trickling slowly down her right arm. Inch by inch, it slid down as it reached the back of the palm of her hand, and then began to roll down her pointing finger. There it suspended at the tip as the surface tension of blood fought against gravity for a moment, but eventually lost and dropped down to the earth – lost in the darkness of night.

And Luo Hao watched this all with morbid fascination. It would seem she was a little late in her escape. The razor sharp shockwave of energy had nicked her flailing right arm just below the elbow indicated by the slight tear in her sleeve at that area.

'First blood goes to me!' Miya smirked. Then she schooled her features when she saw the Campione of China preparing her counter-attack.

'_Last year we fought where the Sang-kan flows – This year it was Onion River Road. We've washed our swords in the Eastern Sea – Grazed our horse on Tian Shan's snowy side. A thousand miles are not enough for this war – Our armies grow old in their armor._'

A pulse of divine energy saturated the area. Winds began to rend the very space, howling bloody murder as it began to pick up speed. Humongous tornadoes began to form, roaring for death. Typhoons and whatnots began to litter the surroundings as windstorm began to wipe out the very land itself.

'_Dragon's Roar_.' Miya mouthed the technique. From what she could recall from the data MBI had gathered on this particular Campione; this was an Authority that lets the Chinese Campione to control winds in her near vicinity. Though she mainly used it for distracting, it could also be used for attacking with devastating effect.

She swung her sword in front of her to get rid of the pesky winds. Another shockwave of invisible energy erupted from her sword and cut through the supernatural winds in a manner similar to hot knife going through butter. But soon it proved to be a futile endeavor, because as soon as the shockwave dissipated, the cleared area was filled with more winds.

Miya pursed her lips. It was going to be a long night.

…..

"My, oh my – What the hell you guys are? We Campiones are regarded as the strongest beings to walk the face of earth. Yet, here I find two very peculiar human like beings easily challenging us and putting up a fight."

Naruto sprang away from Salvatore in alarm when he heard him speak so close to him. So preoccupied he was in concern of Miya, he didn't sense him. He silently berated himself for being this careless.

Salvatore Doni raised his hands, meaning no harm. "Don't worry boyo. As much as I want to fight you, my 2 minutes is over." He said sullenly. "She wouldn't appreciate it if I go for you now. So -" he put his right hand forward. "-Truce?" he sincerely offered.

Naruto stared at the hand warily. He did not take it.

"What do you want?" he asked with eyes narrowed in distrust.

Salvatore was about to say something but a wave of raging winds passed through them, interrupting him. He briefly glanced at the two women trying to tear apart each other. He whistled.

"Wow! – They are going at each other like bitches in heat."

Naruto shot a disgusted glance at him.

"Better etch her image deep in your memories, boyo. Madam Luo Hao had killed for far less in past."

Warning bells rang inside Naruto's head at the implication. "What do you mean by it?"

"Can't you see? Your chick has managed to piss off Madam Luo Hao royally – which is pretty much akin to signing off your own death warrant." Salvatore casually stated.

As soon as he said that, there was a brief rush of wind and when it subsided, Naruto was gone.

"Impulsive one that kid," Salvatore remarked. "I just hope he remains alive. He was interesting."

…..

Miya grunted as she tried to contain the force of the devastating kick that had threatened to cave her chest. Her feet dug into the soft sand easily as her sheathed sword buckled under the pressure.

"I'll say… there's some little power in those old rusty bones." She mocked.

And the result was as she had predicted. Luo Hao snarled as she redoubled her effort to crush Miya under her foot.

And at that precise moment, Miya let go of her hold on the sword and bent backwards. With nothing to hold off the immense force, the sword flew away. And as the platform to plant her feet was taken away, Luo Hao felt herself helplessly careening forward. She glanced at Miya and found her smirking.

_Smack_!

Miya flexibly brought her heel down on the prone figure of Luo Hao, grounding her to the ground. Next instant, Miya jumped away from her and deftly picked up her sword.

And good thing she did, because immediately, Luo Hao had pounced ferociously upon her; relentlessly attacking her with fervor.

"_Insolent_ _brat_! You will die here!" the once elegant Campione of China intoned murderously.

Miya internally sighed as she ignored the sharp jolts of pain that kept shooting up from her arms as she blocked and countered in kind. For some reason, she was not finding this fight as difficult as she had predicted. For all the power and refinedness that her opponent possessed, she was the archetypal proud warrior whose moves were easily readable. She didn't use any underhanded tactics; too proud and confident in her straightforward techniques. In short, her opponent was very predictable.

Not that it was doing any good to her.

Without a doubt, Luo Hao was easily the most dangerous foe she had ever faced. Straightforward she maybe, but she was far too skilled in her methods. She had to focus every ounce of her concentration to not let her guard slip: Because one slip – and Luo Hao could debilitate her in one single punch, or kick.

As in cue, the downward kick she dodged absolutely wrecked the ground beneath.

Taking advantage of the confusion that the uplifted created for a brief moment; Miya grabbed her sword in reverse grip and crouched a little, and then, unleashed her trademark devastating shockwave of energy.

Luo Hao burst from the dust cloud. "Foolish girl! You think you can catch me the second time with same technique?"

"Yes," and unleashed another shockwave point blank.

This one caught the Chinese Campione by complete surprise; if the look of absolute disbelief on her face was anything to go by.

The shockwave ripped through the clothes of Luo Hao and met the natural resistance all the Campione possessed. It went through it like hot knife through butter carving the flesh apart.

Blood flowed out in rivers, soaking the fabric on her in deep rusty red. Agonizing pain spiked through the deep gash, lighting her body on fire; yet all she did was glare icily at Miya.

Miya had to give it to her. She was impressed.

"You underestimated me, old hag." She simply said.

Luo Hao clutched the wound and winced. When was the last time she was wounded like this? She couldn't remember. It was such a long time ago, the memories of those times had faded from her mind.

"If you think you have won just because of this scratch you have luckily managed to put on me, then it is you who underestimate me." Luo Hao stated coldly through clenched teeth.

Miya's eyes narrowed. In a blink of an eye, she unsheathed her sword and pointed its tip at Luo Hao, looming above her.

"Say – if this blade goes through you – will it also be luck?" The naked blade of Totsuga-no-Tsurugi glinted with bloodlust.

'_A great force is exerted! Great force vanquishes small evil!'_

Luo Hao scoffed. "Absolutely," she declared and batted away the legendary blade with a confident strike at its sharp edge. The sound of metal clashing against stone rang and Totsuga-no-Tsurugi flew away despite the strong grip Miya had on it.

Hastily getting up, she eyed Miya with scorn – and with a gracefulness that was incomparable; she spun on her heels and backhanded Miya.

Miya; who was momentarily stunned by the sudden turn of events – gasped in pain as stream of blood sprouted off from her definitely broken nose. Involuntarily, she felt tears streaming down her face as the pain became too unbearable. It felt like her entire face had caved in by the force of the blow.

In her pain filled haze, she felt someone grab her flailing hand. Then she coughed blood whilst she doubled over in debilitating pain. Luo Hao had hit her with a devastating punch in her gut. It felt like it had liquefied her internals.

Scratch the part where she had thought Luo Hao underestimating her. It seemed she was the one who had underestimated her opponent.

"The only reason I have yet to turn you into crush you like a bug you are because you have earned my respect." Luo Hao aloofly said. Leisurely, she raised her hand and fondly watched her fists of diamond. _Divine Might of Vajrapani. _She had derived this Authority from Indian god Vajrapani. When activated, it turned her fists into diamond, granting her immense physical strength. "Watch this, and feel honored, conceited one; for you have compelled me to use two of my Authorities. A feat previously not achieved by any lower beings."

But then her gaze hardened. "Nevertheless, I cannot exonerate the crimes you have committed against me. Thus, repent – and feel honored that it is I who will grant you death."

Saying this she stepped forward to carry out her words, when sand suddenly burst forward and tried to impale her in a shape of spear. But as abrupt as it was, Luo Hao still saw it coming from miles and sprung back. And just as she did, a humongous wall of extremely compact sand erupted in front of her, followed by a dozens of jagged stone spikes.

With an almost silent thump, Naruto landed in front of all these. Looking at Luo Hao with an unreadable expression on his face, he intoned in gravelly voice, "A single step towards her -" his baleful cerulean blue iris morphed into golden pools with vertical slit in their middle, whilst crimson tribal marks appeared around his eyes. "-and I'll kill you!"

**A/N: So how was it? I hope you guys liked it. **

**For some reason, I found it incredibly hard to write Luo Hao. I'm sorry if I wasn't up to mark. **

**Now some people might protest that Miya was too powerful, but like I said in the ending author note of chapter 2 – she is basically a goddess in Sekirei. I mean she was that badass chick who sunk huge battleships with one casual swing of her sword. Only because she mellowed out later doesn't mean her power waned. **

**So while here she might not be a goddess in the literal sense, but her powers are comparable to one.**

**And a reader asked me how Naruto is able to wield so many elements. Well, without revealing much, I will just say this that in the canon, Naruto was blessed by each and every Tailed Beast powers; which basically means Naruto has the raw materials that made up Ten Tails. And since Ten Tails can use every element, so does Naruto. (Hint- Gododama)**

**It doesn't mean that Naruto has Rinnegan like mastery over every element. Just that he has the potential to utilize them. **

**And lastly, a question for you guys? How will you rate the Naruto from the end of the canon against someone like Duke Voban? Your answers will be very helpful in upcoming chapters.**


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